In Stock
In Stock
Vance 4 Seat Round Dining Table
Emerald Green Marble & High Gloss Mint Green
£895
Get Inspired
My Caribbean Colour Story
With Ayisha Onuorah
5 min read
A Jamaica Love Story With Ayisha Onuorah ‑ Colour Pairings + Texture we adore...
Ahead of this year's Notting Hill Carnival, we sat down with our Style Ambassador Ayisha Onuorah to discuss her recent trip to the Caribbean.
Firstly, yes, we are jealous. But secondly - and most importantly - Ayisha came back brimming full of inspiration. From the textures of the landscape to the sun-baked colours of the architecture, luscious greens and electric blues, here are the colour pairings that we can incorporate into our homes. After all, the UK is also an island, right?
A Landscape OF CONTRAST
A Landscape OF CONTRAST
A Landscape OF CONTRAST
A Landscape OF CONTRAST
Jamaica is known as the “Land of Wood + Water” + when you’re there, you can see exactly why.
The landscape is full of contrast. Intense blues sit alongside lush, almost electric greens, with warm earth, sand, stone, and rich natural timber running through it all. Then there are these brilliant hits of colour that appear everywhere - in the architecture, interiors, and everyday life.
What Struck Me...
I’ve just returned from a long and incredibly inspiring trip to Jamaica, and as always when I travel, I came home with a camera roll full of things that caught my eye. Colourful buildings, tiled floors, painted walls, furniture, landscapes, and the handmade, unpolished charm of roadside bars and hand-painted signs. But this time, it was colour that I kept coming back to.
What struck me most was how naturally it all sits together. Colours that we might hesitate to pair in an interior don’t feel remotely jarring when you see them out in the world.
It got me thinking about how cautious we can sometimes be with colour at home, and how much we can learn simply by looking at what nature is already doing...
LOOK AT WHAT NATURE IS ALREADY DOING
There’s often a feeling that once you’ve chosen one strong colour for a room, everything around it needs to become quieter. But nature doesn’t really work like that.
A bright blue sky doesn’t compete with green foliage. Terracotta earth can sit alongside pink flowers, turquoise water and deep brown timber without any of it feeling like too much. There can be several strong colours within the same view, but the natural materials and quieter tones running through them bring everything together.
I found myself noticing combinations like this constantly in Jamaica.
It’s a useful way to think about colour at home too. Instead of immediately asking whether two colours “go”, look at where those colours might already exist together naturally. Some of the most interesting palettes can come from places you’ve travelled, a landscape you love, or even a photograph you keep coming back to.
Wood As A Colour
One of the things that makes all of this colour work so beautifully is the amount of natural material surrounding it, particularly wood.
I’ve always loved using timber in my work, but Jamaica made me think about wood as a colour in its own right. There isn’t just one wood tone. You have pale, sun-bleached finishes, warmer honey tones, reddish woods and deep, almost chocolate browns, as well as all the variation that comes through the grain.
It’s also why I like mixing wood finishes rather than feeling everything in a room has to match. A darker dining table can sit beautifully alongside a lighter chair or a piece with a completely different grain. That variation makes a room feel more collected and personal.
If you already have that foundation of beautiful wood tones and natural textures, you can afford to be much braver with the colour around them.
“Wood is brilliant at grounding stronger colours. Put a rich timber next to blue, green, yellow, or red ‑ it brings warmth + depth without fighting for attention. ”
Ayisha Onuorah, Cult Style Ambassador
BRINGING THE COLOUR HOME
For me, taking inspiration from Jamaica doesn’t mean trying to recreate a Jamaican interior at home. It’s about looking at the confidence with which colour exists there and finding your own way of translating that.
Maybe it’s a deep earthy red alongside a clear blue. A warm brown with a much brighter green. A rich timber paired with a colour you might previously have thought was too strong.
And being brave with colour doesn’t necessarily mean painting an entire room.
A chair, lamp, cushion, piece of artwork, or painted section of joinery can completely change the relationship between the colours already in a space. Start with something you genuinely love and build around it.
Texture makes a difference too. The same colour can feel completely different on linen, velvet, ceramic, gloss paint or timber. Layering those finishes gives stronger colours room to exist together without everything feeling flat or overly coordinated.
Colour should make you feel something
We talk a lot about colour psychology in interiors, but our response to colour is also incredibly personal.
A particular blue might remind you of the sea. A green might take you back to a garden you grew up around. Certain combinations can remind you of a place, a person, or a particular time in your life.
It’s one of the reasons I’m more interested in asking how someone wants a room to feel than simply asking what their favourite colour is.
Jamaica reminded me of that. Some of the combinations I loved most weren’t necessarily ones I would have sat at my desk and put together from a colour chart. I responded to them because I experienced them.
WHAT I’M BRINGING BACK WITH ME
Travel always finds its way into my work, sometimes consciously and sometimes much later.
I’m currently developing my own fabric collections, and I came back from Jamaica thinking about colour differently. I’m particularly interested in those unexpected combinations and the contrast between earthy, natural materials and colours that are much stronger and more saturated.
Combinations are sitting in my camera roll now that I know will reappear somewhere. Maybe in a fabric, an interior, or in a way I haven’t thought of yet.
More than anything, the trip reminded me to be less concerned with whether colours are supposed to work together and to pay more attention to how they make me feel when they do.
Ayisha Onuorah x
Ayisha's Caribbean Edit
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
Hallie Wooden Carver Dining Chair
Ochre Maze Boucle & Walnut
£229
+ 4 more
Sold out
Quick view
Maui 4 Seat Round Dining Table
White Honed Marble Effect Stone & Smoked Grey Oak
£595
In Stock
In Stock
Leia Round Side Table
Forest Green Honed Marble & Walnut
£295
In Stock
In Stock
Aria 2 Drawer Rectangle Wooden Bedside Table
French Riviera Marble & Walnut
£279
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
Carson Armchair
Rust Red Sustainable Velvet & Chrome
£495
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
In Stock
Ezra Wavy Wall Mirror, 120 x 80 cm
High Gloss Latte
£195
Need even more inspiration?
Cult Lifestyle
5 min read
Introducing Cult’s New Style Ambassador: Ayisha Onuorah
Ayisha’s bold and fearless interior design philosophy authentically embodies Cult energy, with her confident approach to interiors that blend vibrancy, sculptural form, and purposeful layering.
Read Article
Behind The Scenes
10 min read
Behind The Scenes at Club Cult - Our Summer Sale Shoot
Inspired by the glamour of the 70s Riviera, old-school Ibiza, and the golden era of retro resort culture, this is Cult's most immersive campaign yet. The doors are open. Step inside.
Read Article
Cult News
3 min read
We're Coming to Birmingham - Cult x Grand Designs Live
If you missed us in London, now's your chance. We had a pretty good feeling about Grand Designs Live 2026. Now, we’ve set our sights on Birmingham. Grand Designs Live lands at the NEC from 2-4 October 2026 - and Cult will be there.
Read Article
BUYING GUIDE
10 min read
The Cult Guide To Dark Wood Furniture
Dark wood brings much-needed depth and warmth, steering interiors away from sterile, soulless spaces into rich homes full of character. Here is your no-nonsense guide to styling dark wood furniture.
Read Article
Get Inspired
5 min read
Cult At Grand Designs Live With...Ayisha Onuorah
Creating the perfect space at Grand House Live 2025 from concept to reality - discover how Ayisha transforms her dream into a reality, using Cult Furniture.
Read Article
Trends
10 min read
Modern Nostalgia: How to Mix Materials in the Home
Mixing materials is the design move that turns a good room into a great one. Here's how to do it with confidence - from anchoring your space to layering textures like a pro.
Read Article
Get Inspired
10 min read
The Great British Seaside + Where To Visit This Summer
This isn’t the polished Instagramable version of the Amalfi Coast, or the bright white sands of the Maldives. This is the Great British Seaside - no passport required.
Read Article
