Martin Khamala spent his early childhood in England. He completed primary and secondary school in Kenya and earned a degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Nairobi. He taught himself animation and opened his own company, Mank and Tank gaining success in production of animated cartoons. Since 2011 he has taught animation and interactive media design, in the Department of Design, Technical University of Kenya (TUK). Martin pioneered virtual classrooms in Kenya, developing a platform of digital multimedia content delivery. He has experimented with Virtual Reality completing his Master’s Degree at the University of Augsburg, Germany in 2017. He is enrolled in a split site PhD degree program at the University of Manchester, England and TUK and is conducting field research on classroom culture in Western Kenya.
Odoch Pido is the Eminence Grise of design education in Kenya having taught and influenced over 1000 Kenyan designers over the last 50 years. His profession work has focused on exhibition, product and graphic design. He is also a noted voice in the elucidation and analysis of East African culture. Many of his writings are critical looks at his own Acholi culture in the face of war and upheaval. Professor Odoch completed all his degrees at the University of Nairobi where he also taught until 2012. He is now the Director of the School of Creative Arts and Technologies at the Technical University of Kenya.
Donna Pido is an American anthropologist with 5 decades of professional experience in jewelry and product design. She holds a PhD in applied Anthropology from Columbia University in New York. She has assembled and deposited several collections of Kenyan material culture in American and European museums and has written extensively on Maasai art among other topics related to esthetic production in Kenya. She has been teaching design at the Technical University of Kenya since 2012 and is also the former chair of the College of Arms in the Office of the Attorney General. Dr Pido is an active member of the Kenya Quilt Guild and the Kenya Embroiderers Guild.
