Interior design in South Africa has largely been shaped by hegemonic trends from the Global North, resulting in a practice that often prioritises aesthetics and function over cultural relevance. This approach neglects local spatial concerns and fails to incorporate cultural nuances, limiting the discipline’s potential to address societal needs and contribute to cultural preservation within the African context. While "African" design has gained visibility, it remains largely superficial defined by decorative cultural symbols rather than by meaningful cultural practices or spatial traditions. Frequently curated by non-African designers and driven by global visual cultures, these representations reinforce reductive and biased interpretations of African design. Consequently, interior design is often perceived locally as a practice centred on visual consumption, rather than as a medium for cultural expression and social engagement. In response to these challenges, this study interrogates how South African educational institutions and professional bodies perpetuate Eurocentric design standards. It introduces decolonial and context-responsive frameworks as critical tools for reimagining interior design pedagogy and practice. These frameworks prioritise indigenous knowledge systems, participatory processes, and community agency, drawing inspiration from emerging non-institutional platforms such as the African Life-Centred Design (ALCD) manifesto, Interior Identities, the Research Collective for Decoloniality and Fashion (RCDF), and Andani Africa. Through literature reviews and case study analysis of design briefs from a Private Higher Education Institution (PHEI), this research highlights both the challenges and opportunities of incorporating culturally relevant pedagogies into interior design education. The study reveals that while some educational institutions have begun integrating social design and active citizenship into their curricula, engagement with decolonial perspectives remains insufficient. By applying the principles of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), the research advocates for curricula that prioritise cultural relevance, critical reflection, and inclusivity. It argues that meaningful transformation in practice must begin with education through pedagogies that challenge dominant narratives and equip emerging designers to be socially responsive and culturally grounded. In this way, interior design can shift from producing globally influenced yet locally detached spaces to creating artefacts that celebrate, preserve, and generate contextually resonant design languages. Ultimately, the study calls for a redefinition of interior design as a socially embedded, culturally resonant practice capable of addressing South Africa’s complex spatial and socio-political realities.