Co-founder Matt Gibberd sat down with Lawkena at the kitchen table of her creatively refurbished 1960s ‘modern cottage’. While she talks about how noisy and busy family life is now, she also reveals that she didn't really fit in anywhere as a child; moving between London and Ethiopia for several years as a young child, she was one of the few Black kids at her London school and at home, she was an introvert in a household of extroverts.

Yet, she says, "My home was the one place I felt safe". Matt and Lakwena discuss how art, and faith, helped her out of her difficult teenage years. Lakwena found drawing, which she describes as a process of empowerment, and the act of putting pencil to paper helped her make sense of everything she was experiencing. "Given that her work so positive and uplifting, I was really interested to find out that she's a natural pessimist with a very tough inner critic,” says Matt. “So the words that appear in her art, which say things like 'Do Better' and 'Raise Your Hopes', are actually messages to herself."

While she hasn’t brought any precious or breakable artwork into her home just yet – living with three small children, everything "gets destroyed" – her artist’s eye is clear to see. Considered colour is used to break up a highly adaptable space, where it’s crucial to her that her children are the focus. And artworks, such as her huge Christie's Frieze rug, have been inventively repurposed for family life.

Lakwena also gives a fascinating insight into the creation of some of her key works, particularly the Brent Cross substation, which she wrapped in her trademark rainbow of colours, subverting the previously grey, concrete space, and how her Miami mural showed she could paint on a large scale. "A lot of the work that I make is kind of this longing for Paradise," she reveals – "part of Paradise is this place of belonging - feelings of connection and home."

If you enjoy this episode, which we hope you will, why not subscribe? That way, you’ll never miss an episode.