National Geographic Traveller's September 2026 issue spotlights Kigali's flourishing arts, food and fashion scenes — and House of Tayo sits at the heart of the story. Writer Zoey Goto visits the Nyarutarama atelier to meet Matthew Rugamba, a designer whose garments combine sleek modern tailoring with Rwandan motifs such as geometric weaves and luminous flashes of kitenge. The feature explores how House of Tayo is carrying Rwanda's creative message to the global stage, from Hollywood red carpets to the shirts spotted across Kigali every Friday as office workers champion homegrown design.

Matthew Rugamba joins the inaugural Rwanda Edition of the Financially Incorrect podcast for an in-depth conversation about the business decisions that shaped House of Tayo into one of Rwanda's most recognisable fashion brands. Rugamba shares how the brand's biggest breakthrough came not from celebrity endorsements or red carpet moments, but from walking away from the product generating almost 40% of the company's revenue. Covering audience building, manufacturing challenges, the power of the Made in Rwanda movement, and the role of customer experience in driving sales, the conversation is as much a masterclass in brand building as it is a story about fashion.

"Rwandan brand, House of Tayo draws from innate African sophistication and local craftsmanship to create a line of clothing and accessories with contemporary appeal. Here, the brand’s founder and creative director Matthew 'Tayo' Rugamba discusses how telling African stories through his designs helps him create collections with cultural significance."

"When he started House of Tayo, Rugamba had not a shred of experience in fashion or design, and only had a few bow ties lying around. What he did have was a blog post on Tumblr he posted in early 2012 about African fashion, which spoke about the way bow ties were going to be his way of telling the story of an Africa that is sophisticated and dignified."

"While Rwandan designer Matthew Rugamba doesn't believe African textiles should be limited to African designers and brands, it does irritate him, he said, when designers draw inspiration from different African cultures, using African textiles and then employing phrases like "tribal" to describe them. "Some of the patterns and colors have great significance in different African cultures, so it is condescending to reduce some of these designs to a single phrase," he told HuffPost."

Entrepreneurship, creativity, awesome design…these are a few of our favorite things and just a few of the reasons why we love House of Tayo! Founded in 2011 by Rwandan entrepreneur Matthew Rugamba, House of Tayo is a locally-made clothing and accessories line with a mission to showcase African sophistication and style. We partnered with them to create a collection of Dutch wax fabric bowties featuring the brand’s iconic bold colors, vibrant patterns, and distinctive Rwandan flair!

House Of Tayo: Journey Of A Rwandan Designer is a forthcoming reality web series presented by The Africa Channel that offers a behind-the-scenes look into the daily routine of rising fashion designer and entrepreneur Matthew Rugamba. Viewers will be introduced to Rugamba and his bespoke menswear label, House Of Tayo, over the course of thirteen episodes as he scouts the streets of Kigali in search of fabric and inspiration for his new line of accessories.