Gaborone · Botswana · Est. 2012

We design a more thoughtful Botswana
from sketch to silhouette.

A multi-disciplinary studio for industrial & eco product design, interior & landscape architecture, corporate branding, design mentoring and contemporary visual art — with in-house GK Design Media for films, photography and content that move brands forward.

The Studio

A studio that begins with the brief — and ends with the build.

GK Designs is a Gaborone-based consulting studio that interprets any brief into considered, buildable design. From a one-off designed object to a full interior, brand and media rollout, we treat every project end-to-end: research, concept, drawings, material sourcing, models, prototypes, intellectual-property support and launch.

Founded by designer Goitseone Ketlhalefile in 2012 and incorporated as GK Designs (Pty) Ltd, the studio has grown into a multi-disciplinary collective working at the intersection of African craft and contemporary industrial practice — inspired by nature, sharpened by innovation, anchored in sustainability.

“I believe that for anything to be sustainable, innovation has to take place. GK Designs exists to turn bold ideas into objects, spaces and brands Botswana can be proud of.”
— Goitseone Ketlhalefile, Managing Director
Inside the GK Designs studio in Gaborone
Plot 23485 · Phase 4 · Gaborone
What we do

Nine disciplines. One studio. One accountable team.

Each service is delivered in-house, supported by a vetted network of engineers, fabricators, copywriters and producers, so the story stays coherent from strategy to pixel, from prototype to press release.

01

Industrial & Eco Product Design

Research-led concept design through to engineering-ready drawings. Ergonomic, material-conscious objects built for manufacture. Eco-product design and IP registration assistance are part of every brief.

  • Concept & sketches
  • CAD & prototyping
  • Eco materials
  • IP / patent support
02

Interior Architecture

Space planning, furniture layouts, floor plans, colour schemes, moodboards, finishes, lighting and decoration. Residential, hospitality and boutique commercial interiors that work hard and feel calm.

  • Floor plans & layouts
  • Furniture & lighting specs
  • Moodboards
  • Décor sourcing
03

Landscape Design

Outdoor environments that extend the building's story: indigenous planting, water-wise gardens, hardscape, lighting and outdoor living rooms designed for Botswana's climate.

  • Masterplans
  • Indigenous planting
  • Hardscape & lighting
  • Outdoor kitchen / pool
04

Corporate Branding

Identity systems grounded in strategy: logotype, marks, type, colour, voice, stationery, decks, signage and rollout guidelines — plus the culture to keep them disciplined.

  • Logotype & marks
  • Identity guidelines
  • Stationery & decks
  • Brand audits
05

Packaging Design

Shelf-shapes that sell: structural design, materials, dielines, print-ready artwork and the small manufacturing touches — closures, textures, finishes — that make a product feel worth keeping.

  • Dielines
  • Material specs
  • Print artwork
  • Prototype runs
06

Service Design

Service blueprints, customer journeys, and operational design — connecting your team, your tools and your customer so experiences feel effortless behind the scenes and obvious out front.

  • Journey mapping
  • Service blueprints
  • Touchpoint design
  • Operational rollout
07

Design Audits & Mentoring

Hands-on reviews of a brand, product or space, plus structured mentoring for in-house designers and founders. Twelve years of practice, condensed into a diagnostic you can act on.

  • Heuristic audits
  • Roadmaps
  • 1:1 mentoring
  • Team workshops
08

Contemporary Visual Art

Original works and commissioned pieces that draw on Botswana's textures, light and textile heritage — for residences, hotels and brand environments that need a real anchor piece.

  • Original works
  • Commissions
  • Installations
  • Limited editions
09

GK Design Media

The studio's in-house production arm — videography, photography and content designed in lockstep with brand and product. Promotional, long-form, corporate and interview formats captured and edited end-to-end.

  • Promotional films
  • Long-form & corporate
  • Interviews
  • Product / studio shoots
Explore Media
Innovations

Designed, prototyped, IP-protected — born in Botswana.

The studio does not stop at concepts. Where a project earns it, we develop working prototypes, register the intellectual property and press the product into real use.

The Mobi-styler — mobile shampooing unit
IP registered

The Mobi-styler

A mobile shampooing unit that brings the salon experience home. A compact, ergonomic trolley concept with basin, water management and an adjustable headrest — designed for mobile stylists, hospitality rooms and home care.

  • TrademarkRegistered
  • Industrial DesignRegistered
  • PatentFiled
Eco Handbag — handbag made from upcycled leather
Sustainable

Eco Handbag

An everyday carry piece built from upcycled leather off-cuts, proving that a great accessory can be grown from another object's remains. Designed to scale with local craft partners.

  • MaterialReclaimed leather
  • MethodLow-waste pattern cutting
  • MakeCraft-led production
Contemporary visual art
Research

R&D — Water & Light

Two early research projects out of the studio: a household device that reduces excess fluoride from drinking water (developed with the Department of Chemistry and Botswana Water Affairs), and a child's entertainer that gathers sunlight and disperses it into soft rainbow patterns around a room.

  • WaterDefluoridation prototype
  • LightSolar rainbow diffuser
  • StageResearch / concept
GK Design Media

Design and content, in one conversation.

Most studios hand you a finished brand, then expect another agency to film it. We keep both in-house. That means a brand, an interior, a product — all shot the way they were designed and edited the way they were intended to be seen.

Promotional Video

Short, sharp ads and social cuts.

Long-Form Video

Brand stories, mini-docs, founder films.

Corporate Video

Internal comms, launch films, AGM pieces.

Interviews

Multi-cam talk-show and testimonial shoots.

Product Shoot

E-com, catalogue, lifestyle — in studio & on set.

Video Editing

Post, colour, motion graphics, captions.

Book a production
Behind the scenes of a GK Design Media production
Selected work · 2024 — 2026

Built in Botswana. Documented publicly. Shipped.

Eight currently-archived pieces from the studio's public record — packaging, exhibitions, restoration, architecture, community programmes. Hover any card.

01

Gee's Biltong · Chilli

30g vacuum pouch · BOBS registered · "Botswana 100% Guaranteed" seal · peri-peri seasoning. The product inside is real; the studio signed off on every kilogram that left.

Packaging
02

Art by Totang Motoloki

"Art from anything; meaning in everything." Pull-up banner, archival plates, Pop Art collage and the show identity for Totang's mini-retrospective. +267 7174-5588

Exhibition system
03

Oodi Weavers Tapestry

"Weaving Tradition into the Future." Outdoor banner system for the Oodi Weavers Project — supported by the Commonwealth Scholarships Alumni Community Engagement Fund at UNIPOD.

Exhibition · Commonwealth
04

Furniture Restoration

Bar stools, recliners, bean bags, lounge suites and tables — a documented before/after audit trail that the studio uses to charge its industrial-design hours.

Industrial · Restoration Before After
05

Residential Plans & 3D

Modern 2-bedroom 1189 sqft package — plans + 3D perspectives delivered as a single PDF + SketchUp hand-off.

Architecture · Interior
06

Dressmaking & Pattern · Cert

Certificate of completion system for a 6-month programme — and the outdoor stage / graduation set design that frames each cohort picture.

Curriculum
07

"Innovative Thinking Made Easy"

The original Four-Image-Grid house brochure. Industrial · Interior · Landscaping · Building Maintenance · Server Management — a property brochure that doubles as a brand audit.

Brand identity · Brochure
08

Elevate Your Business Brand

Social-first video package from the studio's in-house media arm — promo · long-form · corporate · interviews · product shots · video edit.

GK Design Media · Video
Goitseone Ketlhalefile — Managing Director of GK Designs
Founder · Managing Director

Goitseone Ketlhalefile.

Industrial Designer · IT Educator · Visual Artist · Beauty Therapist — and the Managing Director who still keeps a hand on the pencil.

Goitseone founded GK Designs in 2012 after a Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design from the University of Botswana, where he was active in the Design Clinic and Engineers Society and developed the Mobi-styler prototype that would later be trademark-registered, design-registered and patent-filed.

Before the studio, he spent seven years as a middle manager, adding depth in corporate governance, occupational health & safety, ergonomics and brand management — disciplines that quietly shape how the studio runs and how its work is built today. He spent an attachment at Sasa Interiors (furniture layouts, floor plans, colour schemes, lighting) and at the Botswana Bureau of Standards quality-testing a range of products.

Earlier, with the University of Botswana and Molepolole College of Education, he earned a Diploma in Secondary Education (Design & Technology with Computer Education), an A+ in PC Technologies at Damelin, and developed a household fluoride-reduction concept with the Department of Chemistry and Botswana Water Affairs. He is also a qualified Beauty Therapist — the discipline that originally inspired the Mobi-styler concept's ergonomic thinking.

  • TrademarkMobi-styler
  • Industrial DesignRights registered
  • PatentFiled
  • Eco ProductEco Handbag range
How we work

A clean five-step path from brief to handover.

  1. 1

    Discover

    Stakeholder interviews, on-site visits, market and material research. We listen before we draw.

  2. 2

    Define

    A short, written strategy: goals, audience, constraints, deliverables, budget envelope, milestones.

  3. 3

    Design

    Concepts, sketches, CAD, moodboards, prototypes — reviewed at every gate with stakeholders.

  4. 4

    Develop

    Engineering, sampling, supplier sourcing, production, IP registration support where relevant.

  5. 5

    Deliver

    Install, launch, document, train. A clean handover, plus a written care and growth plan.

One accountable team

Design, media and project management under one roof. Fewer handoffs, fewer surprises, better work.

Built for Botswana

Climate-aware materials, local craft networks, and the pricing and pragmatism of a Gaborone studio familiar with the region.

Deep, not wide

We stay small enough to personally oversee quality. The MD still reviews every deliverable before it leaves the studio.

IP-aware

Twelve years of practice in protecting design work — trademarks, industrial design rights and patents we file seriously.

Sustainability by default

Reclaimed and local materials, low-waste patterning, water- and energy-aware specifications wherever possible.

Content-ready

Because we shoot our own work, every brand ships with the assets it needs to actually launch.

Start a project

Briefs welcome. Replies in 24 hours.

Tell us what you're trying to build. Attach references if you have them. We'll come back with questions, costs and the next gate.

Submitting opens your email client to our studio inbox (goitse30@yahoo.com). No third-party tracking.