Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa

Designer

Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa

Some people grow up making. Tee started in her forties at her kitchen table, discovering that what she’d been looking for had been waiting in the fabric all along.

Tee didn’t arrive at sewing through the routes most makers describe. No art school foundation or early obsession with cloth. She came to it in her forties, at her kitchen table, when necessity met curiosity. What she didn’t have access to, she would make. What she didn’t know, she would teach herself. That instinct is the same one that runs through everything she has made since.

The kitchen table matters to her. Not as an origin myth, but as a working principle: you don’t need perfect conditions to create something powerful, nor is it ever too late to start something new and completely change your path.

Tee’s process begins with the fabric. She studies the print, the texture, the colours, the way it moves, and she designs around what the material is already telling her. It is hands-on and intuitive, led by what is in front of her rather than a fixed idea imposed upon it.

The pieces she has made for Exiled have centred on a particular kind of balance: working with reclaimed materials while still arriving at something bold and beautiful. The challenge, as she describes it, is respecting the material while pushing it into something new.

Through that process, she has found that the notion of transformation – taking something discarded and making it into something people genuinely value – is where the work becomes most meaningful.

“I want those who own Exiled to feel confident, seen and connected to the story behind the item. Not just wearing something, but knowing where it came from and who made it.”

Outside the studio, Tee runs, spends time in nature and with her family. She also works with communities, teaching others to sew and create, describing this work as a constant source of inspiration that feeds directly into her making.

Products by artisan

ALL PRODUCTS
Loading products...

Quote from artisan

“Making is more than creating clothes. It’s about confidence, identity and storytelling. The act of proving something to yourself. Every piece holds energy, intention and culture.”

Meet your makers

This is our circle of makers: artisans, designers, technicians and technologists, each bringing a distinct craft and a shared conviction that the material others overlook still has more to say.

View All
Bridie Rimmer

Bridie taught herself to work with leather because nobody else was making what she could see was needed. Seven years on, she brings that same rigour to Exiled.

Bridie Rimmer
Bridie Rimmer
Designer

Bridie Rimmer

Designer
Jo Smith

No material that reaches Jo is truly at the end of its life. She has spent her career proving it – one rescued, reimagined piece at a time.

Jo Smith
Jo Smith
Textile Technician

Jo Smith

Textile Technician
Kelimune Handloom Centre

The Kelimune Handloom Centre, supported by Exiled and Fibershed Sri Lanka, is a community of skilled handloom weavers, sharing knowledge and keeping alive an ancient tradition for new markets.

Kelimune Handloom Centre
Kelimune Handloom Centre
Group of makers

Kelimune Handloom Centre

Group of makers
Polonnaruwa Artisan Community

The Polonnaruwa Artisan Community, supported by Exiled and Fibershed Sri Lanka, nurtures a group of hand weavers to carry forward a centuries-old craft into products and places it has never reached before.

Polonnaruwa Artisan Community
Polonnaruwa Artisan Community
Group of makers

Polonnaruwa Artisan Community

Group of makers
Roxey Lebedynska

Roxey always knew she was going to be an artist. Music shaped her eye, chaos fuels her process and fashion became the medium through which she says what she wants to say.

Roxey Lebedynska
Roxey Lebedynska
Textile Technician

Roxey Lebedynska

Textile Technician
Sam Grannon

Sam is not just interested in making things. He is interested in what becomes of them. Everything else – the materials, the process, the precision – follows from that.

Sam Grannon
Sam Grannon
3D Designer

Sam Grannon

3D Designer
Sisi

Sisi chose creativity at nine years old and has never reconsidered. Making for her is not a job or a practice. It is the clearest expression of who she is.

Sisi
Sisi
Textile Technician

Sisi

Textile Technician
Syd Newman

Syd was always looking for the next skill she hadn’t mastered yet. She found it in clothing construction and hasn’t stopped looking since, also finding that craft is what makes her feel herself.

Syd Newman
Syd Newman
Textile Technician

Syd Newman

Textile Technician
Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa

Some people grow up making. Tee started in her forties at her kitchen table, discovering that what she’d been looking for had been waiting in the fabric all along.

Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa
Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa
Designer

Tendai ‘Tee’ Murairwa

Designer