About

We are committed to encouraging and nurturing creativity across the globe and celebrating the diversity of all cultures.

Beautifully designed objects and artefacts, handmade with love and remarkable skill, techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation – things that add meaning to our homes and our lives along with the decorative pieces we adorn ourselves with all have remarkable tales of their own. Infused with the life and culture of their makers, these stories are communal; they exist to be revealed and shared.

At ONE TRIBE, our mission is to discover and share these stories with you. Always enthralling and often surprising, our stories tell tales of makers, their traditions, cultures and histories. We aim to celebrate both the traditional and the contemporary in all things creative… plus add in some great travel tips and delicious food discoveries along the way! We are a celebration of global creativity. We are ONE TRIBE: Original Design Culture.

Monita Roughsedge

Monita Roughsedge, the founder of ONE TRIBE: Original Design Culture grew up in Sydney, Australia with an Egyptian mother, an American father and Irish, Australian, Italian and Algerian grandparents. Stemming from a uniquely multicultural background has no doubt influenced Monita’s passion for travel, adventure and cultural discovery.

Graduating with a degree in stage design from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Monita has designed extensively for theatre and live performance both in Australia and in the USA. After establishing her own design studio in both Sydney and Queensland, Monita spent many years in the fields of exhibition and display design as well as designing both retail and residential interiors before moving into Academia, where she devised, coordinated and ran Design programs for Universities in Australia, Malaysia and China.

Working in the theatre taught Monita about visual communication – the design of the stage set is an integral part of the story of the play. From the colour of the furniture to the shape of the doorknobs, every designed element adds to the overall telling of the story. The same can be said about many uniquely designed objects and artefacts – the shape, the patterns, the colours chosen all contribute to the telling of richly complex stories; stories about tradition, culture and daily life. Stories that hold meaning for both the creators of the pieces and in turn, their new owners.

After a lifetime of professional and academic design experience and years of journeying around the globe, Monita has finally brought her passion and experiences together – culture, creativity and the magnificence of visual storytelling is the essence of ONE TRIBE: Original Design Culture.

We hope you enjoy our stories and creative discoveries as much as we do!