About
Ordinary Living Made Intentional.
OLMIKAYA is an independent East African editorial and lifestyle company. We publish a journal, keep a directory of people and places, and make a small number of objects with the people we write about.
The name is the argument. Most of life is ordinary, and the ordinary parts are the ones worth doing on purpose.
Ordinary life is worth experiencing intentionally.
What we make
One
The journal
Reporting on people, places, objects, food, style, design, architecture, travel, work and everyday ritual. Published when a piece is ready.
ReadTwo
The directory
A standing record of the makers and rooms worth crossing a city for. Every entry is earned by going.
BrowseThree
The objects
Things made slowly, with the people we cover. Each one takes as long as it takes.
SeePrinciples
How we work
We go more than once. A single visit produces a description; a second produces an understanding. Nothing enters the directory on one visit, and nothing is written up from a phone call.
We take no payment for coverage of any kind. Should that ever change, it will be stated on this page first.
We name the people who made the thing. Photographers, writers, tailors, cooks and carvers get credited by name, in the piece, not in a caption nobody reads.
We publish slowly. The work takes as long as it takes, and a thin month is better than a padded one.
Masthead
Nairobi
Founder & Creative Director
Peter Mbugua
The letter
One letter, at the end of each month.
What we published, what we found, and where we are going next.
One letter a month. Unsubscribe from the foot of any issue. Read past letters.
The letter
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The letter
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The next letter reaches you at the end of the month.
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