Togo's Palais de Lomé stages a sweeping new survey of West African design

It was a conversation with the late designer, Kossi Aguessy, known for his futuristic aluminium sculptures that merged advanced industrial techniques with West African cultural references, that gave Togo-based curator Sonia Lawson the idea to create a platform for exhibiting contemporary West African design.

‘[Aguessy] told me, I’m very happy to be exhibited in all of these wonderful places across the world,’ says Lawson of the designer, who died in 2017 after his work had been collected by institutions like the Pompidou Centre and New York’s Museum of Arts and Design. ‘But I would love to be exhibited in West Africa.’

That place became the Palais de Lomé, a historic former governor’s palace. Originally constructed in 1905, the palace served as the seat of government for German and later French colonial powers, before becoming the presidency of independent Togo. After being abandoned for nearly two decades, it was restored and reopened as an arts centre dedicated to promoting Togolese and West African art and design.

A retrospective on Aguessy’s work was staged in 2020, and five years later, the Palais de Lomé is still championing West African design, now with its new exhibition, Design in West Africa, on view until 15 March 2026.

The exhibition brings together more than 20 designers, artists and artisans from across the region under one institutional roof. From local Togolese figures to internationally recognised designers such as Nifemi Marcus Bello from Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire’s Jean Servais Somian.

Curated by the Milan-based curator and co-founder of Nomad design fair, Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, the exhibition explores the idea of ‘Unity in Multiplicity,’ which celebrates the commonalities between the designers, despite the variety of practices present. ‘It’s hard to define one specific style in West Africa,’ says Lawson. ‘But what is common is that many of them work around the notion of community.’

Lawson points to designers such as Aboubakar Fofana, who learned his craft of Indigo dying from his grandmother, a traditional healer in his home village in Mali. ‘Indigo is a healing material,’ explains Lawson. ‘So she would send him to plant and harvest the seeds, that is how he was initially exposed to it. But he refined his practice to become one of the finest master indigo dyers in the world.’

For the exhibition, Fofana presented a series of four dyed panels made of hand-spun and woven cotton, each featuring a varied dot pattern and a natural gradient created through the hand-dyeing process.

Tradition, and even spirituality, is at the core of many of the designers’ work. ‘One of the most prominent Togolese designers, Gona, is also a Voodou priest,’ she explains. ‘He chooses his wood from his village’s forest, then prays to see what shape and colour he can give it. Each colour has a symbol. For instance, once of his pieces is a bench incorporates the figure of a green whale, which represents a connection to the earth. The work is very contemporary, but it’s embedded in tradition.’

Lawson also highlights the work of designer Kossi Hemadzro Assou, whose research into the way people in Togo sit and gather informed a collection of seating shown in the exhibition. ‘In northern Togo, people sit down very low, similar to how they do in Japan,’ she says, describing the design thinking behind the flat varnished wood platforms, one carved in the shape of a circle, the other a five-point star. ‘So he explored the connection between sitting and community.’

Beyond individual designers, Lawson emphasises Togo’s rich craft traditions as a foundation for contemporary experimentation. The country has deep roots in mediums such as woodworking, pottery, textiles and ironwork, but more recently, there has been a rise in the use of reused and scrap materials to create more contemporary design objects. One example is the work of Tété Azankpo, who reconfigures scrap enamel and reclaimed metal to create sculptural chairs with surface decoration derived from the enamel’s original floral patterns.

The exhibition brings together members of the Togolese diaspora, who return to the country for research and inspiration. Estelle Yomeda, who was born in Strasbourg to a Togolese father, incorporates traditional craft references from Togo and Ghana in her work. Inspired by the region’s deep tradition of woodworking, she created a hand-sculpted walnut bench whose edges curve gently like the body of a grazing animal.

‘[The Palais de Lomé] used to be a place of exclusion and power,’ Lawson says of the former colonial palace. This exhibition proves the building has become something even more powerful – a place of dialogue and community.

'Design in West Africa' is on view until 15 March 2026 at Palais de Lomé, Avenue de Sarakawa, Lomé, Togo