Curator and founder of Mbari Kola: The Arts Society, Ugoma Chinelo Ebilah, has transformed a 1960s two-storey house with views of the Lagos Lagoon into a home for her new vision – a thriving cultural club for the Nigerian capital.

The property, originally built by Italian construction company G Cappa, featured a patio that encouraged an indoor-outdoor living style which was common at the time. She enlisted the help of architect Kelechi Odu to realise the project. ‘Ugoma wanted to create an oasis of art, culture, and luxury within the bustle of Lagos,’ he explains.

Step inside cultural club Mbari Kola: The Arts Society

‘The house has been renovated, and we decided to interfere with the structure as little as possible,’ Ebilah explains. ‘We extended out to the rear, maintaining the views and the original connection.’ Odu adds: ‘The building is tucked discreetly at the end of a close, revealing itself only upon approach.’

The perimeter walls have been retained and the floor slab structurally reinforced. The roof has been raised while the rear extensions have been constructed using a steel frame system. ‘We kept the staircase, which remains the central artery; the railings, now emblematic of residential buildings of that era, were refurbished,’ Odu says.

The word 'Mbari' in 'Mbari Kola' was the name of an older, local cultural club founded in the sixties in Ibadan, Nigeria. It is also the name of a cultural practice in the Owerri region of Nigeria that involves the construction of an ephemeral, highly ornamented artistic structure left to disintegrate after its ritual use.

Odu, who is from that region, took inspiration from the practice for the facade and its red laterite soil. ‘The ombre effect suggests a grounded base transitioning upward, rooting the project in its cultural context while also alluding to the aspirational goals of the Mbari Kola,’ he says. ‘I want people to return to a sense of wonder and discovery, and I learned a lot during this renovation,’ Ebilah adds.

She was particularly inspired by the artisan who restored the original terrazzo floors and installed a contemporary version in the extension. He will be part of a workshop they will hold on terrazzo. ‘I want people to be educated; I want to showcase the continent and encourage us to learn from and understand each other better,’ Ebilah says.

Access to the garden is through floor-to-ceiling windows that open up the views out to the water. Outside, many of the existing trees have been retained to create the oasis and space for vulnerability and discovery Ebilah wishes to establish. Here, a podium serves as an outdoor room and flexible space for gatherings, performances, and even yoga by the water.

For years, Yinka Ilori has been described as an artist of joy. The phrase follows him almost everywhere. It appears in reviews, interviews and introductions, attached to the vivid colours and communal spirit that have come to define his public commissions and design projects around the world.

Yet standing inside ‘Joy Through Resistance: He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best’, his first solo gallery exhibition in London, it becomes clear that Ilori is asking a different question altogether. Not what joy looks like but where it comes from.

The answer unfolds through flowers, lace and sound, beginning with stories of migration, faith and family. Above all, it emerges through the exhibition’s title, borrowed from a proverb that carries particular significance within the context of the show. ‘He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best’ is less a declaration of happiness than a statement of endurance. The final laugh belongs to the person who survives, the person who remains hopeful. And the person who continues to create, celebrate and gather despite adversity.

For Ilori, joy is not escapism; it is a place of pride.

Presented at Cristea Roberts Gallery, the exhibition brings together new and recent works across painting, print and sculpture, with an immersive sound installation. It is also Ilori’s most personal presentation to date, shaped by grief, memory and the cultural codes of the West African diaspora. The artist has described the show as ‘a homecoming’, one that brings together ‘music, faith, my heritage, resistance, joy’ in a gallery setting after years of working across public space and international commissions.

For Ilori, the timing is important. ‘Most of my work over the last ten years has been centred around joy, folklore, affirmation and creating works that celebrate communities within public space,’ he says. Developed during a period of personal reflection shaped by conversations with family, therapy and a deeper engagement with memory, the exhibition examines the emotional and cultural foundations from which joy emerges. Rather than presenting joy as an uncomplicated state of being, Ilori approaches it as something inherited, practised and continually renewed.

Much of that understanding can be traced back to the Nigerian churches of Ilori’s childhood. Growing up in London, he watched his parents navigate the uncertainty many immigrant families face as they build a life in a new country. Yet his takeaway was not anxiety, but what happened afterwards. Every Sunday, the church transformed into something larger than a place of worship; it became a site of release and community.

‘I remember my parents telling me stories about when they were living in London as illegal immigrants,’ he says. ‘They were going to different lawyers to get their indefinite stay, and then going to church every Sunday, praying. I also saw them dancing for an hour at church, shaking off all the anxiety, the confusion, the fear of being deported back to Nigeria.’

For many within the African diaspora, the church operates as far more than a religious institution. It is a place where culture, language, music and memory are carried across generations through prayer, rhythms, and collective participation. For a young Ilori, these gatherings offered an early lesson in the relationship between joy and survival. ‘When I saw them at church on a Sunday, I saw so much joy in them, and nothing mattered to them. That was where I saw first-hand resistance through joy.’

In Ilori’s work, joy is not simply depicted as the absence of difficulty that exists alongside uncertainty. Instead, it illustrates how someone can still shine amid challenges. The exhibition suggests that communities do not arrive at joy because hardship disappears; they arrive there because celebration itself becomes a way of carrying hardship together. Joy manifests through sound, the choice of material and medium, and ritual – a commitment to continue gathering, celebrating, and imagining futures despite uncertainty.

Floral motifs recur throughout the exhibition, particularly the shape of Nigerian yellow trumpet flower and the British daffodil. The two blooms offer a precise metaphor for Ilori’s dual identity, one rooted in Nigeria and one in London. ‘These two flowers are from different parts of the world, they’re the same colour, and for me they mean the same thing,’ Ilori says. ‘Yellow is a symbol of hope, resilience and rebirth.’

Layered behind these flowers are ornamental lace patterns, which become one of the exhibition’s most trusted materials. In West African diasporic traditions, lace is worn in church and ceremonial contexts as a marker of dignity, pride and style. For Ilori, it is also domestic memory; lace filled his childhood home, bought and sold by his mother, appearing across garments, tables, walls and curtains. ‘My mum loved lace, and lace made her feel her happiest,’ he says. ‘Nigerians love to spend money on lace. That was them resisting and showing joy through their hard-earned cash, wearing lace and looking their best.’ As a surface, lace’s delicacy speaks of vulnerability, while its endurance reflects the resilience of communities shaped by displacement and perseverance.

The same ideas flow into the exhibition’s sculptural works. A custom-made shekere decorated with beads, handmade congas and a drum kit wrapped in lace invite visitors into a space that recalls worship and gathering. Through instruments and play, sound functions as a form of cultural memory.

The exhibition’s two sound commissions extend these ideas further. Composer Peter Adjaye’s contribution unfolds through brass and horn arrangements that move between warning and celebration. Composer and producer James William Blades draws on field recordings, Yoruba lullabies, church hymns, and Nigerian horn samples, with songs drifting in and out of focus, tracing fragments of memory overlapping with fragments of history. Sound and compositions transform the gallery into a space of listening as much as looking.

‘With sound you can take people on a journey,’ Ilori says. ‘I could take you to Nigeria, to Ghana, to Morocco, wherever.’ For him, music, faith and creativity are ways of maintaining tenderness, humour and purpose. ‘I think people want more soul out of life. With the pressures of life, war, crime, policing, whatever the problems are, you need something else to give you release, hope and clarity.’

The exhibition also complicates the idea of Ilori as the ‘architect of joy’. Here, joy is neither fleeting nor accidental, but something inherited, sustained and passed between generations. ‘This show is another testament,’ Ilori says. ‘It felt like the right time to show the importance of joy from a different perspective, in different mediums, in a gallery space.’

At Cristea Roberts Gallery, joy is given roots in sound, lace, memory, faith and history. It becomes less a burst of colour with affirmations and more a form of cultural inheritance, one that laughs last because it has learned to endure.

‘Yinka Ilori: Joy Through Resistance, He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best’ is at Cristea Roberts Gallery, London, from 5 June to 11 July 2026

Regarded as one of Africa’s most influential artists and the godfather of the Afrobeat genre, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was a revolutionary act whose work shaped a generation of people. His music was a tool of resistance against oppression while creating sounds that traveled through time. Keying into the life of rebellion in which he lived, Afrobeat Rebellion is currently showing at the Ecobank PanAfrican Centre in Lagos, providing a compact look into the life he lived, welcoming audiences into an immersive experience, exploring his journey and legacy.

Divided into multiple sections that weave through Fela’s life, the exhibition expands at different points into collections of moments spanning time and place, providing an understanding of the world the artist inhabited and the people he inspired. One of the first things you see at the exhibition’s entrance is a digital illustration by Diana Ejaita titled that reinterprets Fela’s work and showcases his spirit. The illustration features words like 'Africa Must Unite,' and depictions of the artist and his mother, Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, a women’s right activist and political educator.

Infographics are in Nigerian Pidgin as well as English, taking audiences into the language that was integral in Fela’s life and artistry. ‘It’s important for me that we recognise who Fela was, not just as a musician and an icon, but what he was trying to say about who we are as a people and how we need to maybe reorient our perception,’ says Papa Omotayo, creative director and founder of A White Space Creative Arts Foundation, producer of the exhibition.

The exhibition, which runs until December 28, 2025, also features a wall of posters from as far back as 1978, spotlighting the monumental change that has been experienced in Nigeria, and the things that in some way remain the same. There are often conversations about living archives in contemporary art, and the ways we can reinterpret the exhibition as an archive, and Afrobeat Rebellion, treats itself as an archive that reanimates the past of its subject. It creates a participatory, dynamic, and evolving experience that isn’t limited in its use, connecting audiences to the past. Omotayo believes that ‘the best archives are the ones that are living in which people can engage with.’

For Seun Alli, art curator of the exhibition, they had to ensure to capture some of the magic they found in the archives. ‘Looking at archives and how they could help build a strong curatorial cohesive - I don't want to use the word narrative, but just the story of what we're trying to tell was very important,’ Alli shares.

First shown at the Musée de la musique de la Philharmonie de Paris, and now reimagined into a grand scale and ambitious exhibition spanning various mediums, including photography, film, literature, music, and fashion, the exhibition recreates and showcase Fela’s life and the things he loved. There is a sense of identity within them that encapsulates the breadth of the artist. A display of his costumes and underpants are some of those – regarding the latter, Alli thought they may be too intimate to share, but felt she’d be doing the audience a disservice not to. They also speak to how influential his music was, and how he shaped the arts across the African continent and its diaspora, inspiring artists in new ways to represent themselves and speak truth a power.

‘For us putting together this show, we just felt it couldn't be linear, it had to be multidimensional. It had to speak to different senses, so as much as you're seeing something, you're also going to listen to something, you're also going to feel something. Albeit through different mediums: it could be photography, a song an interview,’ adds Alli.

As Nigeria’s art landscape continues to grow, exhibitions that move away from commercial viability become more important due to their accessibility, and how they can be utilised to create a supporting ecosystem for the arts. ‘I think there's been an absence of institutional exhibitions in the landscape. A lot of the exhibitions have been from privately-owned galleries. It's not to say those galleries have not created work opportunities that is retrospective or more institution, but because of the lack of institutions, whether it's the National Museum or other places, there hasn't been an opportunity for this scale of exhibition to sort of take place,’ Omotayo says. ‘But I think now as we're seeing the growth of organisations like MOWAA, Gas Foundation, projects like this feel like the tipping point where people are starting to understand exhibitions more than just an event or a commercial thing but exhibitions that can speak to a wider narrative.’

Afrobeat Rebellion is showing at the Ecobank PanAfrican Centre in Lagos until December 28

For Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Lagos is more than a backdrop; it is both his muse and method, a city whose histories, hidden systems, and improvisational industries continue to shape how he makes and thinks. Now, after what seems like an adventure around the world, Marcus-Bello returns home with his first-ever Lagos solo exhibition, ‘Material Affirmations: Oríkì Acts I–III’, at Tiwani Contemporary (on view until 10 January 2026), marking just another milestone in the designer's practice.

Ordinarily, oríkì is a Yoruba word meaning ‘praise poetry’, a form of oral literature used to celebrate, honour, and invoke the essence of a person, a place, a lineage, or even a deity. In Nifemi’s world, it is a merging of industrial design with cultural memory. His ‘Oríkì’ series of designs explores the intersections of material and identity. Comprising three parts or ‘acts’ – ‘Friction Ridge’; ‘Tales by Moonlight’; and ‘Whispers of a Trail’, each of which has been the subject of previous exhibitions as the series has evolved – draws on bronze, aluminium, and copper to reflect on Africa’s histories of making and transformation. Each material serves a purpose: bronze recalls the legacy of West African metalwork, aluminium speaks to Lagos’ informal economies of repair and reinvention, and copper captures the elemental forces of exchange and transformation.

Wallpaper* sat with Nifemi to discuss ‘Material Affirmations – Oríkì Acts I–III’, which unites the whole series of works, and the city of Lagos as his muse.

Nifemi Marcus-Bello on ‘Oríkì Acts I–III’

Wallpaper*: This is your first solo exhibition in Lagos; how do you feel about that?

Nifemi Marcus-Bello: It feels both grounding and expansive. Lagos is not just where I live and work, it’s the city and place that inspired this body of work. The conditions and histories of Africa are my greatest sources of inspiration: the solutions that are found, the histories that are hidden, the ingenuity and resilience that define everyday life. There’s an elegant, elemental beauty in that perseverance. The spirit of Lagos, its ability to adapt, create, and endure run through every piece in the series. Showing the beauty and sophistication within that reality is what this work is really about. And seeing how my family, friends, and local audience respond to it is nourishing and inspiring.

W*: Remind us how the whole ‘Oríkì’ series started and where you’ve presented its various acts?

NM: The series began in 2023 as a way to explore material, identity, and the unseen networks that shape how things are made. ‘Act I – Friction Ridge’ focused on repetition, touch, and the relationship between the maker and the surface of the object. ‘Act II – Tales by Moonlight’, presented at Design Miami 2023, looked outward – tracing stories of production and adaptation through Lagos’ informal industries, especially the auto-part casters who repair and reimagine what global systems discard. ‘Act III — Whispers of a Trail’, which opened this year at Marta in Los Angeles, turns its attention to copper, a single elemental material through which I’ve been examining the politics of extraction, refinement, and transformation. Across the three acts, the series maps an evolving conversation about material life; how design, craft, and survival are deeply intertwined across the continent.

I’ve always been drawn to the everyday objects that define how we live and move through the world. Beyond ‘Oríkì’, some of the other works I’m recognised for include the ‘LM Stool’ (2018), which came from working directly with a Lagos factory that produced metal casings for generators – we reimagined what could be made from that same sheet metal using subtraction rather than addition. The ‘Selah Lamp’ (2019) extended that thinking, designed to be quiet and adaptable – a single folded piece that could be a lamp, stool, or shelf.

All of this connects to my ongoing research platform, Africa – A Designer’s Utopia, which looks at the informal networks of production across the continent – how people design and build through necessity, with intelligence and ingenuity. That world of improvised systems and resilient solutions continues to be my biggest inspiration.

W*: Is the Lagos exhibition a continuation of your presentation at Marta, Los Angeles?

NM: Yes, but it’s also a return. The presentation in Los Angeles closed the ‘Oríkì’ trilogy, but this exhibition brings those ideas back to the place that first inspired them. The Lagos show doesn’t repeat what was shown at Marta; instead, it recontextualises it. It’s a way of seeing how those same ideas, about extraction, transformation, and the poetry of material, live and breathe within the environment that shaped them, and in conversation with one another.

W*: What made you want to use praise poetry as the idea behind this series?

NM: Oríkì is both praise and poetry, a way of naming that carries memory, lineage, and identity. The idea of it is so close to the heart of design. An oríkì is not just about describing someone or something, but invoking their essence. That felt very close to how I think about making: as an act of remembrance and affirmation. Each work in the series is its own kind of oríkì – a way of honouring the hands, histories, and materials that define our world.

W* You worked with bronze, aluminium, and copper – why those materials in particular?

NM: Each of these materials carries a different layer of meaning and history, and each is found here on the continent, and too often extracted and exported. Bronze connects to longstanding casting traditions across West Africa; it’s a material of memory and legacy. Aluminium speaks to the present, to the improvisational industries of Lagos where it’s constantly melted, reformed, and repurposed. And copper, which became the focus of ‘Act III’, is elemental; it embodies conductivity, transformation, and exchange.

W*: There’s a clear nod to the Benin bronzes and metal traditions across West Africa. How do those histories show up in your work?

NM: Those histories are part of the foundation of how I think about making. The Benin bronzes, and other metal traditions across West Africa, represent an advanced understanding of material, symbolism, and narrative; they were never just decorative – they were records of power, spirituality, and community. I’m interested in continuing that dialogue, not by recreating those forms, but by exploring how those same ideas of casting, storytelling, and transformation live in the present. In Lagos, metalwork is still everywhere, but now it exists in scrapyards, auto workshops, and foundries. My work tries to bridge those worlds. To show that the same spirit of invention and cultural memory persists, just in different forms.

W*: You mentioned that some of the aluminium pieces came from Lagos’ auto industry. How do you see the link between industry and craft in what you do?

NM: In Lagos, the line between industry and craft is very thin, sometimes it doesn’t exist at all. The same foundries that cast engine parts are often the ones helping me make these works. There’s a deep, intuitive understanding of material and process in those spaces, even if it isn’t formalised as ‘design’. For me, that’s where the most interesting ideas come from; the overlap between improvisation and precision, between survival and creation. Industry and craft here aren’t opposites; they’re part of one continuous system of making, shaped by necessity, resourcefulness, and care.

W*: The accompanying monograph features voices including Eames Demetrios and Glenn Adamson. How did those conversations shape how you see the project now?

NM: Those dialogues helped position this work, and African design more broadly, within the global context of design history. Eames and Glenn both brought perspectives that situate making in Lagos as part of a much larger lineage of design thinking, not outside of it. Their reflections underscored that the processes, materials, and problem-solving happening here are just as vital to the evolution of global design as what’s documented in Western institutions. That acknowledgment matters; it reframes African design not as peripheral or emerging, but as foundational, continuously innovating and redefining what design can be.

W*: This show covers ‘Acts I–III’; do you think there’ll be more acts to come or is this the full story for now?

NM: Honestly, I don’t know. The ‘Oríkì’ series feels complete in its current form, but the questions it raised, about material, place, and identity, are still very alive for me. I think of these acts less as an ending and more as a foundation. The work continues to evolve through new contexts, new collaborations, new materials. So while this chapter might be closed, the ideas will keep unfolding in different ways.

‘Material Affirmations: Oríkì Acts I–III’ is on view at Tiwani Contemporary until 10 January 2026

13 Elsie Femi Pearse Street
Victoria Island
Lagos

There was something absolutely different about this year’s edition of Design Week Lagos. Perhaps it was because the festival happened at two separate locations in the city.

The first, at the usual location at Livespot Entertarium, which has been home to the festival for the past six years and has carried the familiar hum of innovation and community, where designers, makers, and collectors converged under one creative roof. The second, held at the newly opened Nahous cultural hub at the Federal Palace, introduced a fresh rhythm to this experience. It housed the regular designer exhibit and innovation space where countless designers showcase their work for the season. But together, the dual venues reflected the expanding scope of Nigerian design, one that goes beyond the present and confidently stretches to the future.

This year, the festival also witnessed the largest of crowds, expanding the conversation about the growing nature of the design space and also placing Lagos it as one of the design week fairs to watch globally.

Like previous editions, the design exhibition was riveting and full of discovery. Each installation carried its own pulse, revealing how Nigerian and African designers continue to expand the language of form, texture, and material. From conceptual furniture and lighting to textile reinterpretations and architectural experiments, here are what stood out during this year’s festival.

Lisa Folawiyo’s The Archive Reimagined

It was great to witness prominent Nigerian fashion designer Lisa Folawiyo extend her mastery of print and pattern beyond the runway with a bespoke carpet that brings her iconic textile language into the world of interiors. ‘The Archive Reimagined’ translates the playfulness and vibrancy of her fashion into form and function, showing how motifs once worn can now be lived with. The piece feels alive in its composition, the geometry and texture is also not left out of the conversation. The color palette is enigmatic yet bold, commanding attention in the exhibition space and inviting viewers to step closer. But this is also a way for Folawiyo to show that fashion is not confined to the body but can spill beautifully into the spaces we inhabit and she perfectly rendered so in the archive reimagined.

TY Bello’s The Wind Blows Where It Listed

For more than twenty years, photographer and music icon TY Bello has studied light as if it were scripture, tracing its emotion, and rhythm. In ‘The Wind Blows Where It Listed’, she turns her attention to fabric, using it as a vessel for light’s many moods. The design unfolds like meditations making the ordinary seem like a sculptural sacred tent.

Confidence Onyema’s Uzo Collection

Presenting the ‘Uzo Collection’ which means “path.” Confidence Onyema looks to movement, connection, and reflection through a series of sculptural furniture pieces. At the center of the collection is ‘Meander’, a coffee table shaped like a winding path lined by tree-like forms. It represents the journey through life. Another piece, ‘To Hold’, is a side table inspired by the form of a key and keyhole. She calls it her tool of stillness and about the moment of pause before transition, ‘Npanaka’ is from a previous collection inspired by lamp light. A Candle holder and sconces she explores to illustrate how sunlight marks time and creates rhythm. “When the sun moves, it tells time through shadow,” she says. “I wanted to explore that relationship between light, time, and location.”

Ronke Ladipo’s From Ashes

Ronke Ladipo presented one of the fair’s most striking installations, a conceptual furniture crafted in the form of oversized cigarettes, the chair, side table, and storage box transforming familiar symbols of consumption and decay into objects of reflection. The chair’s stacked cylindrical backrest resembles a pack of cigarettes in various stages of burn, crisp white at the base fading into darkened ash at the top, while metallic gold accents mimic foil wraps. The table and storage unit extend the metaphor, each piece sculpted to resemble a smoldering cigarette, complete with ashen textures and the bold text from Ashes design

Juliet Olaipekun’s the Fossil Collection

Juliet Olaipekun is another fashion designer who stunned festival attendees. With the ‘Fossil Collection’, the multidisciplinary artist and founder of ILE ILE blurred the line between heritage and modernity. She drew from Yoruba cosmology and natural materials, crafting sculptural furniture that is both ancient and alive. One of the exhibits in her booth was titled ‘skeletor’ and is a very sculptural chair shaped like the cerebral of a creature with many legs and with a curve with the seemingness of a crescent moon. But this is also Olanipekun's conscious way of describing the home as a living organism, one that carries stories, spirits, and the quiet strength of those who came before. It’s contemporary African design with a pulse, deeply personal yet universally resonant.

Joan Eric-Udorie's Bantu

Bantu is a collectible stool that transforms ebonised wood into a sculptural study of balance, rhythm, and flow. Joan Eric-Udorie wanted to draw inspiration from African vernacular architecture and the intricate geometry of cornrow braids, translating these patterns into organic, fluid forms. Rather than replicate tradition, she distills its essence, reinterpreting woven and carved motifs as continuous curves that feel almost alive. The deep, warm tones of the wood create a sense of both tension and harmony, while the stool’s seemingly weightless silhouette hovers between function and art.

Yasir Hakeem Popoola’s Ite Akinkanju (Table of the Brave)

Popoola’s ‘Table of the Brave’ embodies Yoruba wisdom and sustainable intent. Crafted with a sense of balance akin to the proverb of the three-legged stool, it reflects harmony as strength. Guided by BYMARP’s ethos of thoughtful material use, the design honors bravery not as defiance, but as care for craft, for culture, and for what endures.

Abiola Diana Makinde’s Ijoko Ore, Model 02

Dedicated to sisterhood, the ‘Ijoko Ore’ refers to the quiet intimacy, strength, and tenderness that bind women together. The piece blends industrial design principles with artistic expression to form a sculptural yet functional object that can serve as a seat, a center table, or simply a statement piece that anchors a space. Beyond its physical form, the work extends Makinde’s ongoing exploration of kinship and shared rituals. Drawing on motifs found in hairstyling patterns, fabric design, and communal gathering, it reflects on the vulnerability and connection that come from sitting together in conversation.

Play and joy have always been founding principles of artist and designer Yinka Ilori's practice. Today, the British-Nigerian creative announced the launch of the Yinka Ilori Foundation, a not-for-profit initiative to bring play, optimism and empowerment to communities worldwide.

The Yinka Ilori Foundation

'Growing up, play gave me freedom to dream,' says Ilori as he introduces the foundation's mission. 'It allowed me to turn swings into spaceships and everyday places into worlds of possibility. That sense of imagination and joy is something my mother instilled in me, and it's at the heart of why I launched the Yinka Ilori Foundation.

The foundation's mission statement mentions co-creation, inclusivity, and sustainability as its founding principles, with an aim to create permanent community spaces across the globe.

For its inaugural project, Ilori is creating a playscape in Nigeria (his family's ancestral home) co-built by the local community. The space will be based on modular play structures and will be the stage for a series of workshops and community events that will include training in caretaking to make the project sustainable in the long-term and empower its users.

This play structures will be co-built with the community, and the project will be supported by a full year of free cultural and skills-based programming. Workshops in music, craft, storytelling, entrepreneurship, and fabrication will be offered alongside training in maintenance and caretaking, ensuring each site remains sustainable and locally stewarded.

Ilori has always been vocal about the role community spaces play in the development of young people's networks and how imagination can help shape their future; his foundation is going to merge his beliefs with the distinctive sense of optimism and joy that has pervaded his work from the very beginning.

'We often forget about the mundane spaces which play an important role in bringing the community and people from different cultures and backgrounds together, as well as providing an opportunity for kids to meet, play and share ideas,' he told Wallpaper* in 2022, as he debuted a launderette-inspired playspace in collaboration with Lego.

Joining Ilori in his mission is a board of trustees that includes fashion designer Wale Adeyemi, EKP Connections founder Ellen Port, Gagosian associate director, curator Péjú Oshin and sound artist Peter Adjaye. Broadcaster, entrepreneur and author June Sappong will serve as an ambassador.

'I want to create spaces that aren’t just for communities, but with them,' concludes Ilori. 'Spaces that empower, connect, and inspire. We're starting in Nigeria, but this is just the beginning.'

When cultural entrepreneur and curator Richard Vedelago first stepped into the east wing of Lagos’ Federal Palace Hotel – an extension originally commissioned for Festac ’77, the Black and African festival of arts and culture held in the city in 1977 – he knew that Nahous was already within reach. Today, he has transformed the once-empty space into a multidisciplinary cultural hub – housing a gallery, a concept store, a furniture showroom, and Bar 77 – which now anchors Lagos’ creative ecosystem.

Combining Bauhaus-inspired minimalism with the hotel’s preserved midcentury bones, Nahous advances his vision beyond aesthetics: it’s a place to rethink how Lagosians gather and imagine, with weekly Nahous Talks, masterclasses, exhibitions, a book club, and events spanning music, literature, fashion, and design.

Wallpaper* sat with Vedelago to discuss the vision further.

Wallpaper*: What inspired the creation of Nahous and how many years did it take to nurture this idea?

Richard Vedelago: Nahous was born out of a conviction that Nigeria, and Lagos in particular, needs permanent, independent platforms where art, fashion, design, and culture can be experienced at the highest level. The idea crystallised the moment I encountered the Old Federal Palace site; I immediately knew it was the right place to bring this vision to life. From there, it took only three to four months to completely reimagine and transform the space into what it is today. I think this was only possible because of a lifetime of preparation [combining with the right] opportunities. All the experiences I’ve gathered over the years came together at that moment. So while the execution was rapid, you could say it was decades in the making.

W*: Tell us about your career before your pivot to art, and now as a cultural curator with Nahous.

RV: My professional background began in real estate and hospitality, where I learned how space, architecture, and experience intersect to create value. That foundation eventually led me into art and cultural programming, which I see as a natural evolution of my career. With Windsor Gallery [which I also founded] and now Nahous, my focus has shifted to curating not just exhibitions but entire ecosystems that can sustain creativity and cultural expression.

W*: When you created Nahous, were there specific gaps in Lagos’ cultural ecosystem you were trying to fill?

RV: Yes, the gap was very clear. Lagos has extraordinary creative energy, but often lacks permanent, multidisciplinary platforms that bring art, fashion, and design together. Nahous is my attempt to create that intersection. The name itself is derived from Bauhaus, but reimagined as ‘Nahous’ a Nigerian, Africanised form that grounds the idea in our own context. It is about creating our own movement rather than borrowing wholesale from others.

W*: Why did you choose the Old Federal Palace site? Did you think situating Nahous there would unlock a certain 1970s architectural feel for people who visit?

RV: Absolutely. The Old Federal Palace is one of Lagos’ most iconic brutalist structures, and it carries the spirit of Nigeria’s post-independence optimism. For me, situating Nahous there was intentional; it’s about honouring that era of ambition while giving it new life through a cultural lens. Visitors often remark that it feels like stepping into both the past and the future at once.

W*: You often reference Bauhaus ideas. Where do those influences show most clearly, in plan, materials, or programming?

RV: The Bauhaus philosophy runs through everything we do at Nahous. You see it in the modular design of our spaces, in the materials that privilege functionality and form, and most importantly, in our programming, which erases boundaries between disciplines. Bauhaus was about collapsing hierarchies of art, craft, and design that’s precisely what Nahous is trying to achieve in Lagos today.

W*: We saw the reference of Bar 77 nodding to Festac ’77, the 1977 Black and African festival of arts and culture. Did you want Nahous to be the best of everything, including food?

RV: Yes. Bar 77 is a nod to Festac, which was a defining cultural moment in our history. I wanted to connect to that spirit of celebration. The kitchen and dining programme at Nahous are equally important. Food is one of Nigeria’s strongest cultural languages, and it would have been incomplete to create a cultural hub without integrating gastronomy. We want Nahous to be a place where you can experience the very best of Nigerian creativity, whether on canvas, on the runway, or on a plate.

W*: You’ve framed Nahous as a home for independent thinking. What cultural reprogramming is the public looking forward to seeing?

RV: We are reprogramming how culture is consumed. Instead of one-off events or seasonal shows, Nahous is designed as an ongoing ecosystem where exhibitions, talks, residencies, performances, and dining intersect. The public can expect cultural programming that feels both global and deeply rooted in Nigeria, from avant-garde art shows to collaborations that push the boundaries of what ‘African culture’ can mean in the 21st century.

W*: Is Nahous also open to extending the conversation on the design scene in Lagos?

RV: Absolutely. We currently have a space at Nahous dedicated specifically to design and architecture. This [means] design is not treated as an afterthought but as a core pillar of the ecosystem. It allows us to showcase furniture, architectural ideas, and object-making within the same platform as art and fashion, ensuring the design scene in Lagos receives the visibility and critical attention it deserves.

W*: Will there be a time when Nahous begins to open its doors to creative residency programmes, expanding the conversation of the creative scene at large?

RV: Yes, in fact, our residency programme is launching in the coming weeks and months. We are beginning with a virtual residency that connects creatives across the continent, creating dialogue and collaboration without borders. Alongside this, we are developing a physical residency space that will bring together multiple disciplines, from art to design and performance, to generate unique perspectives on objects, culture, and ideas. Collaboration is at the heart of Nahous, and the residency programme will embody that spirit by fostering cross-disciplinary exchange and experimentation.

Also read: How Lagos’ street markets inspired a new generation of Nigerian creatives

On any given afternoon at Ebute Ero market it can seem as though the entire population of Lagos Island has gathered there. Tailors trudge the streets clinking giant scissors to advertise their services, while women selling the most vivid red tomatoes, spilling out of baskets, call out from corrugated iron-roofed stalls lining the teeming road. Then there are the moving traders with huge loads on their heads, carrying everything from sachets of water and pyramids of dried fish to cardboard boxes piled high.

But despite appearing chaotic, the marketplaces in Lagos are state-structured to a certain extent, says Taibat Lawanson, Leverhulme professor of planning and heritage at the University of Liverpool, UK.

And they play a special role culturally as ‘places of interaction and transaction’, she says. Cultural historian Nze Ed Emeka Keazor also challenges the notion of them as ‘informal’. ‘Many of the market traders are registered companies,’ he says. ‘Virtually all of them pay tax in one form or another to the state government.’

Lagos street markets as design inspiration

Meruwa pushcart

More recently, the Lagos marketplace has become a laboratory for stall design, emerging as an abundant source of inspiration for creatives such as Nifemi Marcus-Bello, who founded Lagos-based design practice Nmbello Studio in 2017. After studying overseas and returning to his homeland in 2013, he was told repeatedly that no one was ‘doing design’ in Nigeria. But his visits to the markets taught him otherwise: his ongoing project researching and documenting market structures and objects has formed the basis of some of his most celebrated design work.

Marcus-Bello was fascinated by the longevity of the meruwa pushcart he had observed during his childhood in the 1990s and 2000s. The two-wheeled, steel-framed cart, lined with raw planks, is used to carry kegs of water from a central system to households and businesses across Lagos. ‘This for me was an extremely important thing to archive,’ he says. ‘I didn’t realise these things still existed, and they play such a prominent role within the Lagos ecosystem.’ The design principles governing the meruwa were the foundation for a portable handwashing station he created during Covid, winning him a Wallpaper* Design Award for life-enhancer of the year. The modular solution is assembled with easily accessible materials, including a main frame made of tubular steel. Beneath a sink are two kegs – with one supplying clean water while the other takes in wastewater.

Okrika stall

Another prominent market fixture is the okrika stall, a scaffolding-type structure selling secondhand clothing. It is typically built of metal, wood, or a combination of the two. ‘Usually, they’re about 6ft, but I’ve seen ones that are 10ft,’ says Marcus-Bello. ‘I interacted with these a lot as a kid. If you bought bootleg clothing in the 1990s or early 2000s, this is how it was sold.’

Marcus-Bello translated the traditional okrika structure into a contemporary design for Nigerian skate brand Wafflesncream (sometimes known as Waf ). Conceived as a pop-up retail space, the modular kiosk incorporates the brand’s ethos of working with natural and readily available materials, which is reflected in the use of bamboo strips woven around a metal frame.

Umbrellas

Umbrellas are ubiquitous at Nigerian markets and are typically added to stalls as flexible shelter from heat and sunlight, as well as rain. ‘Obviously the display mechanism has to be appropriate for this context,’ says architect Tosin Oshinowo, whose research project on Nigerian markets, ‘Alternative Urbanism: The Self-Organised Markets of Lagos’, has been on show at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. Her presentation highlights three of the city’s most dynamic informal markets: Ladipo, Computer Village and Katangua. ‘The way the clothes are displayed is very much an innovation of place,’ she says.

Marcus-Bello highlights that the material make-up of the umbrellas is almost entirely determined by local accessibility. ‘It’s heavily contextual to time, place and availability,’ he says. ‘Some are makeshift, some are ready-made, but the makeshift ones depend on the urban landscape of where they’re going to be used. If there’s a welder close by, the street merchants will work with the welder. That’s why sometimes you see they have a metal structure. Or if there’s a carpentry workshop close by, then the traders will just work with the carpenter.’

The umbrella stalls have also served as inspiration for architectural designer Paul Yakubu, who explored the various ways in which they are used. ‘They’re not owned by the traders, so there’s a basic competition for size of space, and what they use in defining that is the umbrella itself,’ he notes.

On one occasion, he observed three different traders occupying the same site at different times of the day and realised that, in some cases, a joint ownership agreement was in place, with traders sharing some parts of the set-up, such as tables and stools. ‘Under that same structure, a woman was selling bread in the morning and then, from 11am, it switches. There’s a guy doing shoe repairs. He stays until 5pm or 6pm. And then by 6pm, there’s a third person, a woman selling dinner for people on the street. It’s super interesting.’

As a result of his research, he developed the ‘Umbrella Crate’ stall, a series of crates stacked in a rotating form sheltered by an umbrella, simplifying the process of assembling and dismantling the structure. The stand maximises space to ensure traders are not limited by their umbrella ratio or forced to spread their wares beyond their defined territory. Furthermore, the trading apparatus is built using discarded plastic crates that have been repurposed, promoting circularity and sustainable principles.

Wooden kiosks

In contrast to the umbrella stalls, where products are openly displayed, there are the wooden kiosks used for financial transactions, or the sale of condiments and household items. ‘Often you just see the trader through the mesh inside this kind of small wooden box,’ Yakubu says. ‘They respond directly to the context. They are super economical to make. Once you limit the customer to outside, there’s the sense of your things inside being secure.’

Marcus-Bello recalls a period of time when many kiosks started being ‘modernised’ and built from fibreglass. ‘The thing about the fibreglass kiosks was they could get extremely hot in the sun, so they didn’t last too long,’ he says. He describes the kiosks as great examples of sustainable modular retail. ‘You don’t have to replace the whole system if a door breaks. You take out the door and you build a new door and you put it in.’

Handheld kiosk

The stall that promotes the most mobility is possibly the handheld kiosk, which is a staple for those who sell their wares on the congested city roads. The design allows the traders to nimbly navigate traffic and approach customers wherever they are. Made from styrofoam and cardboard, with goods secured using thick rubber bands, the kiosks can be rested on shoulders, instead of the weight being borne entirely by the arms. Sellers have the option of buying an empty stall or one loaded with small goods such as confectionery, paying a monthly stipend to the maker and distributor.

‘No one really knows who the originator of the object is,’ says Marcus-Bello, who notes that the way its design has changed over the years illustrates ‘material evolution’ as the city’s markets respond to availability. ‘When I was young, these kiosks were made from plywood because when things were imported, they were often packaged in plywood.

‘Things are now packaged in cardboard and styrofoam,’ continues Marcus-Bello, ‘so that’s what’s readily available.’

Akpoti stool

In her research project, Oshinowo identified another multifunctional object found in market stalls across Nigeria – the akpoti, a stool, made from raw wood planks, that also serves as a table and display stand.

‘I sat on one as a child to have my hair done,’ she says. ‘It’s such a common object. It is the most functional design object because it is tried and tested over decades. I started thinking, what if you took this everyday object and you just made it a little bit nicer. How do you take something that is an everyday object and make it something that feels like a design piece?’

Oshinowo reimagined the akpoti carved from wood and painted with a black lacquer matte finish. A side handle was added to improve its functionality, and it is bound with brass nails for a sophisticated take on the rugged staple. Oshinowo says the piece lends itself beautifully to the narrative of the African design context and how anonymously-designed objects are crafted and refined over time by a community.

Water basin

Meanwhile, Salù Iwadi Studio took a conceptual look at the ubiquitous water basin (a multifunctional item used to collect, store and display produce and water in markets), which contributes to conversations around sustainability and reuse. The Nigeria- and Senegal-based design studio built the ‘Water Basin Totem’ to prompt discussions about the object’s use in comparison to the polluting alternative of single-use plastic. Studio co-founder Toluwalase Rufai says the totem reflects the team's sustainable approach to design, from how the products are made and the artisans they employ to the lifespan of the object. ‘Keeping our heritage, our knowledge, and know-how is also a way that we try to champion sustainability,’ he says.

Yakubu feels that many Nigerian creatives are drawn to marketplaces because the informal space can deliver some interesting lessons on functional design. ‘If you want to just design something that works and is adaptable, these provide some of the best references,’ he says. ‘There’s a communal sense of iteration. Everyone has come together to design, refine and build.’

Meanwhile, for Oshinowo, markets provide a platform for what she describes as ‘communal intelligence’, a collective way to design. She says this differs from the contemporary Western context, which is hierarchical. ‘It’s a self-organising system of efficiency without anyone dictating from the top how things should be done.’

This article appears in the October 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print and on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Ishahayi Beach House offers paradise living on the coast of Nigeria. Located on a barrier island to the south of Lagos, on a stunning strip of its namesake beach, this four-bedroom residence provides uninterrupted views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Tour Ishahayi Beach House by Studio Contra

The home was designed by Nigerian architecture firm Studio Contra (which was part of the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2022), and caters for a young client looking to escape the city and enjoy the country's sunny coastline with family and friends. Nestled on its sandy 6,000 sq m plot, the contemporary project was built amid, and is now elegantly framed by, more than 75 mature coconut palms.

‘The idea for the residence emerged through the convergence of several desires,’ says architect and Contra Studios co-founder Olayinka Dosekun-Adjei. ‘We wanted to create a serene retreat that connects with its extraordinary natural surroundings and we envisioned a space that offers an expansive experience of the coastline.’

This vision led the architects to a symmetrical plan, which fans out elegantly towards the ocean, ensuring every single room enjoys the expansive vista. ‘Our client anticipated hosting lots of friends and occasional big parties or events, so there is much more outdoor space (both shaded and unshaded) in the plan than indoor space,’ Dosekun-Adjei explains.

‘To truly capitalise on those ocean vistas and enhance the sense of arrival, we made a deliberate decision to elevate the building's ground floor. This not only provides even better sightlines to the horizon but also allows us to make a striking feature of the grand steps leading up to the main entrance and deck, creating a memorable transition into the home and the central space.’

The building's presence is elegantly softened through the use of subtle curves on the façade to evoke a sense of comfort and calm. This is echoed in the sand-white paint, with finishes of terracotta tiling and natural stone.

What anchors the building are its seven staircases, which command attention and are Dosekun-Adjei’s favourite part of the building. ‘It might seem like a lot – with five leading up to the main ground floor deck and two more ascending to the upper level – but they are more than just functional elements; they've become one of the building's most compelling features as it invites a slower pace and quiet ascent in anticipation of the views.’

However, living in a remote paradise, albeit blissful, proved difficult as far as construction planning was involved, as Dosekun-Adjei adds: ‘The site was only accessible by boat from Lagos, which meant a complex logistical operation for both labour and material transportation.

'There are no road connections to Ishahayi either. The constant presence of salt air and humidity is incredibly corrosive, making rust a significant concern. This required a selective approach to material specification.’

The logistical challenges paid off, resulting in a bright and airy building, which channels its locale through the light colour palette and abundant sunlight – a haven where visitors can't help but feel encouraged to relax.

studio-contra.com

In Lagos, design is resilient – raw, adaptive, and born of necessity – traits that are evident throughout the city, especially in its bustling street life. One of the most notable examples is the colourful umbrella stalls that populate the markets. These informal merchandising systems are transitory by nature, providing flexible shelters for all kinds of traders – from convenience stores and restaurants to barber shops and beyond. While they may not be recognised as ‘design’ through a Western lens, they play a significant role in shaping the city’s architectural language.

'I started living in Lagos after my first degree in architecture and became fascinated by the prevalence of umbrella stalls in the city,' says Paul Yakubu, a Nigerian architect who grew up some 200 miles to the east of Lagos in Benin City, southern Nigeria.

Intrigued by their significance, he began researching the role of these informal structures in small-scale architecture. Through conversations with traders, he discovered that the umbrella functions not only as a shelter but also creates identity for shop owners and marks territory in the constantly shifting spaces of the markets. 'I sought to ask the question “How do you design for informality?”'

This question led Yakubu, who spent several years studying and working in London, to develop his own interpretation of the umbrella stand. Drawing from the functional simplicity of the existing stalls, his design introduces a more structured and adaptable solution. The umbrella crate stall features a modular system of crates arranged around a circular frame, allowing for flexible product display and easy customisation.

The design is scalable, growing from a basic four-crate module to a 20-crate structure, all within a 12 sq m circular area. In addition, the crates can pivot and rotate to accommodate different types of goods, so traders can add more components as their business expands. The lightweight, mobile structure is easy for traders to transport and set up, while also echoing the transitory nature of informal market spaces.

Yakubu’s aim is not just to provide a functional market stall, but to create a design solution that aligns with the adaptability and resilience of the informal spaces in which they are found. '"Design for informality” is an open-ended question that, through my design research, I’m constantly finding answers to,' he tells Wallpaper*. 'Conventionally, design is seen in a formal realm where one has to create a structure to fill a gap. But informality challenges these notions with transient spatial forms that continuously negotiate and adapt, often appearing chaotic.'

For Yakubu, designing for informality is about finding a middle ground between formal design principles and the raw, adaptive nature of informal spaces. He believes formal design can engage with the characteristics of informality – such as its flexible forms, materials, and ever-changing behaviours – while still providing an alternative or improved solution. Rather than imposing rigid structures, the goal is to create designs that acknowledge and enhance the fluidity and resilience inherent in informal spaces.

'It's so significant to my work because of the inherent value informal design brings to our cities,' he says citing Lagos as a prime example – where the markets are often seen as blighted elements of the city that need to be removed. However, he believes these spaces speak to the ephemeral and transitory nature of environments, the negotiation of space, and adaptive reuse of materials. It is within this informality that he sees alternative solutions to the challenges of architecture in our cities. 'My work tries to interrogate, communicate with these informal ideals and ultimately celebrate them through design to help my society see their value and beauty.'

Yakubu's umbrella crate stall is in its product development phase, with prototypes being transformed into a finished architectural product that will be accessible to open market traders. This process involves working with potential manufacturers to optimise the design, as well as conducting long-term market studies to gather additional feedback on the prototype – some of which is captured in the film above, made by Yakubu himself.

'One of my main goals is for traders to take ownership of the project and adapt it to their needs,' Yakubu explains. 'I'm seeking a dialogue with informality – where traders engage with this project and transform it into new solutions from which we designers can learn. Beyond creating an accessible market stall solution for traders, I hope to foster this dialogue – a circular process that deepens our understanding and provides answers on how to design for informality.'

umbrellaarchitecture.com

Nifemi Marcus-Bello is a breath of fresh air on the contemporary design scene. Operating his studio out of Lagos, the city in which he was born and raised, he challenges Western-centric narratives and champions a locally rooted, community-driven approach. Navigating the intersection of function, material politics, and social infrastructure, he engages with overlooked production networks and everyday making cultures in Nigeria. Since founding his eponymous studio in 2017, Marcus-Bello has gained international recognition for his research-led, human-centred designs, from public seating systems to limited-edition pieces that interrogate material histories.

His latest exhibition, 'Oríkì (Act III): Whispers of a Trail', marks his third presentation at Los Angeles gallery Marta and continues his exploration of storytelling through functional sculpture. The series delves into the politics of copper extraction, refinement, and procurement, questioning the economic and social frameworks surrounding its production.

As with his previous Oríkì works, Marcus-Bello balances material experimentation with a deep engagement in historical and contemporary narratives, connecting Lagos’s vibrant making culture to broader global conversations.

In this uplifting interview, he discusses the evolution of the Oríkì series, the distinct design language of Lagos, and the shifting landscape for young African designers on the international stage.

Wallpaper*: Congratulations on your third show at Marta! Can you tell us about the pieces presented at 'Oríkì (Act III): Whispers of a Trail', and how the tension between local scarcity and global demand manifest in their design language?

Nifemi Marcus-Bello: From a procurement perspective, copper has been the most challenging material to source due to its high cost and global demand. In many cases, raw copper extracted from the continent is refined abroad only to be sold back to us on the continent as products. This cycle is common with resources like crude oil, cobalt, cocoa and many more. Given these challenges, I ultimately turned to recycled copper, recovered from old products and decommissioned structures. This approach not only made sourcing feasible but also highlighted the material’s journey and lifecycle.

Sourcing raw copper proved to be particularly difficult. After numerous setbacks and roadblocks, I decided to work with scrap copper, which I procured in various markets across Lagos. Due to the scale of this project and editions of pieces produced, I have used over a ton of recycled copper, which in itself serves as a manifesto for sustainable material use.

Having never worked with copper before, I was unfamiliar with its temperament and encountered challenges with welding, finishes, and scaling. As a result, the final objects are crafted from a copper alloy – a blend of copper and bronze – which allows for easier welding while maintaining copper’s prominence in the materiality.

The design of these pieces was inspired by objects that reflect Africa’s nomadic cultures. The form of the daybed, for example, draws from the Agadez bed used by the people of Niger, while other elements reference the multifunctional headrests used by farmers for rest in the field while keeping their head above ground. This nomadic essence also resonates with the journey of the copper itself – from extraction to procurement, and ultimately, to transformation.

W*: This exhibition marks your third presentation of functional sculptures at Marta. What has the experience been like for you, and do you see the Oríkì series continuing beyond this chapter?

NMB: Honestly, it all started with a lot of questions – questions about why certain materials are so prominent in my region, how they’ve evolved over time, and what they really mean to us beyond their practical use. I wanted to dig deeper into their significance, not just from a design perspective but in terms of culture, economy, and identity. That curiosity pushed me to start this series as a way to explore and document those ideas.

The pieces I create are like a visual and functional archive of that investigation. They’re not just objects – they’re a record of the lessons I’ve learned, the challenges I’ve faced, and the emotions I’ve experienced while working with these materials. It’s been such a whirlwind, trying to understand how they behave, how they respond to different processes, and, most importantly, how they shape and reflect the societies that use them.

Like many designers, I’m driven by questions – those things that keep you up at night, the ideas you can’t shake. And the more I create, the more questions I have. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of them! That’s what keeps the work exciting because you never know which unanswered question is just around the corner, waiting to push you in a new direction.

W*: Your designs often carry narratives beyond their function, whether it’s material politics, community-driven processes, or personal memory. Have you always seen design as a tool for storytelling, or was there a moment when you realised it could be a vehicle for deeper messages?

NMB: It’s funny you ask that because, as I reach this third chapter, I find myself reflecting on the same question. I believe context is everything – it should never be left behind in the communication of a design. Objects are more than their function; they carry histories, relationships, and meanings that shape how we interact with them.

Looking back, storytelling through design feels inevitable for me. I started as a maker, then studied art history with the intention of becoming a full-time artist before shifting to product design at a technical university. That intersection of craft, history, and function has always been central to my approach.

Beyond formal education, my upbringing played a huge role in shaping my perspective. In my home, every object held significance. A mat, a plate, a stool – each had a story, a place of origin, and a purpose that extended beyond utility. Conversations about where things came from and the care they deserved were part of daily life. That awareness became second nature, and now, it’s embedded in how I design.

So yes, I’ve always seen design as a tool for storytelling, even before I had the language to articulate it. It’s not just about creating objects; it’s about honouring the narratives they carry and the connections they foster.

W*: You’ve said in the past that Lagos has its own design language (and a strong culture of making), even if it isn’t always recognised in a Western sense. How would you describe that language, and what do you think Western design audiences misunderstand about design in Nigeria?

NMB: Lagos has a design language that is raw, adaptive, and deeply intuitive. It’s not always bound by formal structures or Western academic frameworks, but it is undeniably rich, resourceful, and innovative. The city itself is an ecosystem of making – design here isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about necessity, resilience, and responding to ever-changing conditions.

One of the biggest misconceptions Western design audiences have is the idea that design must be polished, institutionalised, or validated by certain standards to be considered legitimate. In Lagos, design is fluid and dynamic. It exists in the way artisans repurposed materials, how traders adapt to supply chain disruptions, or how entire informal economies function with remarkable efficiency.

W*: What can they learn from this?

NMB: The importance of adaptability, of working with constraints rather than against them. There’s a lot of discussion globally about sustainable design, circular economies, and local production, but Lagos has been practicing these ideas long before they became industry buzzwords. The city teaches you to be resourceful, to think on your feet, and to see beauty in function.

More than anything, I think there’s a lesson in rethinking the hierarchy of design. Innovation doesn’t only happen in studios, galleries, or institutions – it happens in the markets, in the workshops, on the streets. Lagos is a city of makers, and its design language is alive in the hands of the people who shape it every day.

W*: Your approach to design often involves deep engagement with local communities and production networks. What have been some of the most revealing or surprising insights from working with artisans and traders in Lagos, particularly in sourcing and repurposing materials?

NMB: I suppose I don't see myself as an outsider – I engage with Lagos every day, experiencing both its challenges and its beauty. I was born and raised here, spending most of my life in middle-class neighbourhoods - Mende, Ikeja, Ilupeju, Gbagada and later in Ikoyi. Working on the ACTs reinforced my understanding that I’m not just observing this ecosystem; I am part of it.

My connection to Lagos’ maker culture began early, at 13 or 14, long before I had the privilege of studying abroad. To exclude myself from this system would be both naive and dismissive. The city is an extension of who I am – it shapes me as much as I contribute to it. I love Lagos, and in its own way, it loves me back. Every day, I continue to learn from that relationship.

W*: You’ve spoken in the past about not seeing Black designers represented when you were younger and wondering how you’d fit into the field. Now, with your international recognition, do you think the landscape is shifting for young Black African designers? Have you noticed changes in how they see their own possibilities in design?

NMB: I will always be a student of design – it’s how I love to practice. That mindset has shaped my journey, pushing me to constantly seek knowledge, both from within the continent and beyond. Over the years, I’ve realised that if I wanted to understand design in a meaningful way, I had to take responsibility for educating myself, actively searching for information, and immersing myself in the histories and practices that weren’t always readily available. That drive is what fueled my obsession with archives – not just accessing them, but creating them as a way to document and preserve knowledge for future generations.

Now, more than ever, I see a shift happening. The African design landscape – particularly in furniture and object-making — is growing, becoming more visible and interconnected. Young designers are embracing their own narratives, drawing from local materials, traditions, and techniques while pushing boundaries with contemporary approaches. There’s a stronger sense of ownership and pride in our design identity, and with the rise of digital platforms and global conversations, the work coming from the continent is reaching wider audiences.

I see a new generation stepping into the field with confidence, knowing they belong. The ecosystem is expanding, not just in terms of recognition but in how we connect, collaborate, and sustain our practices. It’s an exciting time, and I’m grateful to be part of this moment of growth and transformation.

W*: What else does 2025 hold for you?

NMB: Refinement.

'Oríkì (Act III): Whispers of a Trail' runs until 5 April at Marta, 3021 Rowena Ave, Los Angeles.

marta.la
nmbello.com

From Senegal to Nigeria, and from Niger to the Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa is vast and brimming with potential. A powerful mix of peoples and cultures, and in some nations, exponential demographic and economic growth, makes this part of the world a locus of change. The result? A dynamic new generation of studios that operate in the architecture realm and push the boundaries of their field towards a promising future. Architects, spatial designers and builders converge here to create a unique, rich melting pot of fresh thinking and innovation that will no doubt reshape the way we think about architecture globally.

The ten emerging West African architects and spatial design studios to know

Limbo Accra, Ghana

More of a spatial design studio than an architecture firm, Limbo Accra is a practice that defies categorisation. Set up in Accra, Ghana, in 2018 by Dominique Petit-Frère and Emil Grip, its name was inspired by the large number of uncompleted buildings scattered throughout the city. ‘These structures await a future while fossilised with fragments of the past,’ explain the founders. ‘Since they were never completed, we can only ask: what is their purpose altogether then?’

While Petit-Frère and Grip are not registered architects (they have backgrounds in education and international relations), they work with designers and architects and have a strong spatial understanding of the world. Their output spans continents, all composed through collaborations with architects in Accra, Copenhagen, London, Abidjan, Bombay and beyond.

Atelier Masōmī, Niger

Mariam Issoufou Kamara’s practice, Atelier Masōmī, was founded in 2014. Now 16-strong, the firm balances work between its main office in Niger’s capital city, Niamey, and a studio in New York. ‘I work on ways of creating new interpretations for wisdoms that can be found in traditional buildings,’ says Kamara. ‘At the core of our approach is the belief that as architects we have an important role to play in creating spaces that have the power to elevate, dignify and provide a better quality of life. The goal is always to design spaces that bring communities together while also honouring the cultural history, context and the people we are designing for.’

The studio’s current projects are spread across Niger (where it is finishing the Yantala Offices building); Senegal (the Bët-bi Museum is currently in design development); Sharjah (with the Hayyan master plan and housing development); and Liberia (where the team is working with Sumayya Vally on the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center and Library). The studio’s public commissions celebrate context-specific approaches: ‘The canon has an incredible tunnel vision elevating works from one small part of the world as universal, which really only narrows the field of references available to us,’ says Kamara. ‘When we’re tackling global issues, would it not make sense for our arsenal of tools and ideas to also be global in scope?’

Studio Contra, Nigeria

A mutual desire to create innovative architecture for African cities motivated Olayinka Dosekun-Adjei and Jeffrey Adjei to establish their joint practice, Studio Contra, in 2016. Having met while working for the British architecture firm Sheppard Robson, Dosekun-Adjei, who was raised in Nigeria, and Adjei, a Ghanaian, decided to set up their own studio in Lagos. Drawn to its energy and commercial dynamism, they saw the city as the perfect platform to effect social change and express cultural ideas through design.

Today, the 15-strong practice is working on a spate of cultural commissions in Kwara, a state in western Nigeria. These include the Ilorin Museum and Garden, where a colonialera museum is to be redeveloped into a café and gift shop, and a new 35,000 sq ft space will be built to house classical Nigerian sculptures. Also in the works is a 24,000 sq ft Institute of Contemporary African Art & Film in Kwara; and the transformation of a disused sugar factory into film studios.

Jeannette Studio, Côte d’Ivoire

Mélissa Kacoutié, who founded Jeannette Studio in 2016, hopes to bring poetry into the Ivorian architectural milieu. To her, architecture is a multifaceted vessel for artistic expression, as apparent in one of the studio’s early and defining projects, Le Bazar. A festival venue designed for Abidjan’s Bain de Foule Studio in 2019, the lightweight structure was built using wooden pallets. Like all of Kacoutié’s projects, it has a strong distinguishable element; in this case, an eye-catching, bright pink façade.

Each of her builds is a ‘liveable artistic installation’, while still slotting seamlessly into the landscape. ‘Architecture should be experienced like an animation,’ she says, emphasising the merit in embracing one’s environment, in order to reach that hard-topinpoint poetic potential. It can mean using unpredictable local materials, such as woven palms – a technique which she employed to create a façade for her project Pavilion Bassam, though she wove metal sheets together instead of palm for added durability.

Mamy Tall, Senegal

‘I have always been passionate about architecture,’ says Mamy Tall. ‘I am dedicated to informing people about the importance of planning and maintaining cities, raising awareness on bioclimatic construction and the debate about heritage and its place in our societies, creating bridges between fashion and architecture, and understanding our political system and its impact on our trade.’

Tall grew up in Togo and trained as an architect in Canada before making Senegal her home. The dynamic designer enjoys multitasking and this becomes immediately clear when she starts listing her multitude of undertakings. The founder of Weex Tall, a Dakar studio that consolidates her various activities, and the co-founder of Lives, a platform promoting African destinations, she has also created a documentary series and various fashion collaborations; works at the Senegalese government’s Office of Architecture and Conservation of National Palaces; and represents the French firm Wilmotte & Architects in Dakar (it has an HQ for the United Nations, as well as several restoration projects, underway).

Atelier Worofila, Senegal

Atelier Worofila was first born as a collective in 2017 – five architects and engineers joined forces in Dakar, united by a competition entry. The group evolved over time and, by 2019, just two of the original founders remained: Nzinga Mboup and Nicolas Rondet, who established the studio in its current form.

Atelier Worofila is now an eight-strong practice that thrives in its multidisciplinary and hyper-local approach. ‘Our aim is to work with local materials, climate and skills,’ says Rondet. ‘Our name, inspired by our location, reflects that. It is also a street in a lovely, old, preserved part of Dakar [the Fann-Hock area] and we feel it highlights our approval for this urbanistically beautiful area.’ The pair practise and build (past and current works include villas, public amenities and the renovation of the courtyard and art gallery for the French Institute in Dakar), but also spend a lot of time on extracurricular activities such as curating and teaching.

Atelier Inhyah, Côte d’Ivoire

Atelier Inhyah is the story of Tara-Aude Koffi from Côte d’Ivoire. She graduated from the École Spéciale d’Architecture de Paris in 2019, and went on to work for French and Ivorian firms. But soon she felt the need to create a practice relevant to her cultural backgrounds and decided to start her own firm in 2020: ‘I am inspired by where I am from, while being relevant to our time.’

She chose to settle in Abidjan, ‘a sub-Saharan hub for architecture, despite having had its share of issues to address,’ as Koffi describes it. Aside from more traditional projects, Inhyah is interested in creating a sustainable ecosystem that would benefit local craftspeople. ‘We created a line of home accessories and furniture for that reason,’ Koffi explains. ‘We want people to understand that contemporary architecture answers to its time, yes, but also to its place.’

Hive Earth, Ghana

Although not quite an architecture studio, Hive Earth is a crucial player in its field, as its pioneering rammed-earth construction methods have the potential to transform architecture and construction practices in Ghana and beyond. The outfit was formally established in 2017 by Joelle Eyeson and Kwame Deheer, but the husband-and-wife team have been researching the topic together for decades. United by their passion for eco-friendly construction, UK-born and raised Eyeson and Ghanaian Deheer set up Hive Earth to combine sustainability and African ways of building.

‘We want to change the narrative of building with earth,’ says Eyeson. ‘It’s often associated with building for the poor, but it can look beautiful and is very eco-friendly. Rammed earth is a continuation of the traditional African mud home, so we feel like we are evolving that concept.’

CM Design Atelier, Nigeria

Tosin Oshinowo is a multitasking powerhouse – and as she starts listing her recent creative exploits, it is clear that the Lagos-based architect has been busy. ‘I am an architect first, though I am involved in other aspects of the creative industry,’ she explains. ‘I head up a studio, CM Design Atelier, which employs ten architects, designers and project managers, and I have a furniture line called Ilé-Ilà. I also sit on the board for the Lagos Theatre Festival and co-curated the 2019 Lagos Biennial, and I am currently curating the 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial.’

Educated in the UK, Oshinowo feels her work is ‘grounded in a deep respect for my native Yoruba culture,’ she says. Fusing modernism with the African context has been a lifelong project for her. This has resulted in work that she describes as ‘afrominimalist’, celebrating West African design and culture, and supporting and promoting the region’s rich traditions. ‘Whether I am curating the Triennial or designing beach houses – everything I do is to celebrate the people, culture, talent and traditions of my region,’ she says. ‘I aim to demonstrate to the world that we are an overlooked significant potential, with solutions, practices and ideas.’

HTL Africa, Nigeria

HTL Africa is an ‘idea factory’ according to its founder James George, who established the architecture practice in 2011. ‘I like to look at it as a group of people who collaborate to make working megacities,’ George says of the team of 11 who make up the firm. At the heart of the practice is a focus on performance: ‘Globally in architecture, there’s no understanding that buildings are objects of performance. I think beauty is not important in the sense that we make it important. Architecture must engage with the environment in a way that enhances it, and in a way that creates the opportunity for people to have equality and change.’

George trained at Ahmadu Bello University in the northern Nigerian state of Zaria – an institution he says ‘gave him the independence to learn on his own terms’. His breakthrough project was the 32,000 sq ft Green Wall multistorey office block in downtown Lagos, completed in 2017.

What defines a Nigerian home? Is it the strategy game Ayo in the living room, the family photos that adorn the walls, or the traditional Igbale broom in the kitchen? According to designer Moyo Adebayo, African dwellings are characterised by a strong sense of culture, tradition, and unity. Through his latest exhibition, ‘What Makes a Space Nigerian?’, the architecture graduate seeks to celebrate the key elements of these West African Homes.

'What Makes a Space Nigerian?' by Moyo Adebayo

For the show, Adebayo teamed up with curators Oreofe Ogunkoya, Bewaji Oyesanya, Tunmiji Osibodu, and Israel Taiwo to build a modest West African residence inside a 200-year-old barn in Milton Keynes. ‘Our aim was to create a space that Nigerians could connect with,’ explains the designer.

Featuring domestic spaces such as a kitchen, living room, and bedroom, the display incorporates an exhibition area and a stage for discussions. ‘The spatial design draws inspiration from the vernacular homes of the Yoruba and Igbo tribes’ notes Adebayo.

‘The exhibition is made out of modular stud walls that were all built on site’. Each panel was custom-made to accommodate the barn’s uneven surfaces. They were then finished in render to mimic the appearance of adobe walls found in pre-colonial Southern Nigerian homes.

Inside the exhibition, the strategic West African game Ayo can be found alongside paintings and photos of loved ones. ‘Family is very important to us so a Nigerian house would be populated with pictures of relatives,’ explains Adebayo. A bible and illustrations of biblical stories have been thoughtfully placed in the living quarters to reflect the importance of religion in Igbo and Yoruba households.

The act of greeting, a central aspect of Nigerian culture, was portrayed in the exhibition as a tray of drinks placed in the living room. According to Adebayo this represents the warmth and hospitality that Nigerian households are known for. ‘Through the items we curated in the space we wanted to create awareness around Nigerian culture’ notes Adebayo.

To ensure that he got the spaces and items inside the exhibition correct, Adebayo conducted interviews with Nigerian families, gathering insights into the daily activities that define their homes, from cooking rituals to religious practices.

In the exhibition, visitors can also learn about Nsibiri, a graphic system that was used in pre-colonial West Africa. These symbols were previously used in art, for tattoos and interior design. Visitors can also see work by contemporary Nigerian artists, such as Myles Igwebuike, Olaoluslawn, and Ife Somefun. One standout piece is Zoe Chinonso Ene’s ‘IO Stool’, which incorporates Igbo symbols and challenges the conventional boundaries of functional ornamentation. These artistic pieces not only contribute to the visual identity of the recreated home but also evoke memories of Nigerian life.

'What Makes a Space Nigerian?' celebrates the African home through a clever collection of items and rooms. Adebayo hopes this exhibition will encourage others to delve into the unique elements that define their dwellings. ‘I hope that by trying to define a space as Nigerian and seeing what that looks like, others from different African countries will be prompted to do the same.’

www.destinationmiltonkeynes.co.uk

For Wallpaper’s 2025 Next Generation issue, we have rounded-up a hotlist of emerging design talent from around the world, shining a light on the newcomers paving the present and forging the future. Join us on our journey to meet ten designers from Adelaide, Tokyo, London, Lagos, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Loch Lomond, New York and Paris. Welcome to our ascending stars of 2025.

Emerging designer Olorunfemi Adewuyi, Lagos

Adewuyi studied architecture at Covenant University in Nigeria and is an associate at Lagos-based design and architecture practice Studio Contra. In 2023, he founded OMI Collective with a mission to rescue declining crafts and integrate them into contemporary life, honouring traditional skills and vernacular expressions that might otherwise be subsumed in favour of a globalised design language. Adewuyi believes design has a social and democratic impetus.

Wallpaper*: How do you describe what you do?
Olorunfemi Adewuyi: Recently I’ve come to think of what we do as being concerned with memory – not just preserving memories, but contextualising them so we can hold on to local culture in a globalised world. We do this by humanising design, making tactile furniture and objects that materialise memory so you can literally touch traditions in the objects you use in daily life.

W*: What motivates your work?
OA: I want to do social work, but I recognise this isn’t going to sustain a living, so I also design furniture and work as a sustainability expert. Social design is essential to the context of where I live. For example, one of the challenges we have in Lagos is our water supply. Everyone has to be a local government officer and build their own water supply, so you find water tanks on every roof. It’s an eyesore, but also an opportunity. I ask myself how we might use water tanks to bring green life to our urban habitat.

W*: What has been a career highlight?
OA: Showing at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in the Greenhouse section for emerging designers in 2025.

W*: Who would be a dream client?
OA: The woman on the street roasting plantain. The economy of Lagos is largely informal. I want to put design in the hands of the woman on the street so she is empowered to improve her life without waiting for the government to help.

W*: What do you believe is the power of design?
OA: Good design can have an economic power that people don’t see immediately. Many people feel design is only for the elite. I believe the commercial aspects of design can fuel social design, too. My goal as a designer is to bring social projects at scale to fruition, ones with the potential for the genuine life improvement of many people. Good design is about finding the sweet spot where this relationship is symbiotic.

Olorunfemi Adewuyi, photographed by Stephen Tayo, on the rooftop of his office in Onikan, Lagos
Omi-cv.com

Nothing describes Lagos in October better than chaos. It’s not like the city isn’t always filled with turbulence, but there is something peculiar about October. The rush of everyone and everything reaches fever pitch in the last quarter of the year. It’s in our blood as Nigerians to make the most of anything.

Traffic tends to be more problematic. It’s the sort of congestion that leaves you at a spot for 40 minutes because someone is too big and defiant to obey traffic regulations at a T-junction. The weather is also very dramatic – always too extreme: when it’s sunny it is scorching and when rain comes it floods everywhere, and we all know what that means for a coastal city with poor drainage construction. Then there are unwarranted police stops, with officers on the lookout for young persons to either harass or extort. Regardless of their claims, police brutality is still alive and well despite the #EndSARS protest in 2020.

And yet there are also good things about Lagos in October. It is network-building time thanks to several events that unite creatives across many industries. Design Week Lagos is one of them. This year marked the fifth edition of the fair (23 to 27 October 2024), which was themed ‘The role of design in economic evolution’, and held once again at the Livespot Entertarium.

Design Week Lagos is way more than a fair; it is a catalyst pushing African design onto the global map. It doesn’t matter that it only lasts a few days, it’s impact lives way longer. The fair isn’t centered on just Lagos or Nigeria but brings numerous architectural and design scenes together from across West Africa.

Over a five-day timeframe, we saw architects, designers, industrialists, artisans and enthusiasts together, learning about the West African design hub from the DWL panels held in a large auditorium in the same building. From building constructions to immersive experiences to new product and lighting collections and collaborations, the booths of the fair were filled with mesmerising experiences.

There were notable debuts also this year, mostly from furniture designers at the NDIC section, with exciting designs, and more innovative and experimental materials, complete with stories of their inspirations. Seven designers identified ancestral inspiration as the source of their designs, proving that homegrown culture is a hearteningly rich seam for the next generation shaping our present and future.

Highlights from Design Week Lagos 2024

‘Oji Sofas’ by Myles Igwe

Myles Igwe has been a designer for the better part of his youth and one thing that keeps him inspired is his Igbo culture. In the past he has made furniture pieces inspired by cultural moments like the Aba women riots of 1929 or the significance of trading in Nteje, his home town. His inspiration for a set of cosy sofas comes from ‘Oji’ the Igbo name for kola nut, a sacred fruit used in several rituals in the Igbo tradition. The furniture’s forms are derived from the shape of the kola nut dissected and reconfigured to create perfectly constructed sofas, each with a different shape. Igwe describes the ‘Oji’ sofas as a spiritual embodiment of community and tradition.

‘Eledere’ by Tunde Owolabi

How do you immortalize a workforce that is heavily looked down upon and yet is very beneficial to Lagosians? This was the question Tunde Owolabi sought to investigate in his presentation at Design Week Lagos 2024. His furniture project ‘Eledere’ put the spotlight on street hawkers – a source of great support (however overlooked) when considering the density of Lagos traffic. The table comes with a special wood carving of a woman’s face, suggesting the objects one places atop the table become her burden. The collection also features a chair, beautifully patterned with rich Yoruba symbols in a range of vibrant colours. Owolabi describes the design as a celebration of women hawkers who, despite not being appreciated enough, maintain their livelihood in harsh conditions.

‘The Eko Calendar’ by Oladela Agboola

This familiar structure is part of the city’s architectural buzz, but to find it reimagined as a clock was an unexpected discovery. The ‘Eko’ calendar is inspired by the Lekki-Ikoyi link road, a project commissioned in 2013 and featuring dozens of cable strings to hold the 1.36km bridge in place. The bridge isn’t just a road, it’s an intersection connecting old money (Ikoyi) to new money (Lekki phase one) and that influential significance plays an important part in describing social class. Oladela Agboola has built a miniature design of the symbolic structure with Plexiglas alongside a 3D-printed silhouette in ABS [plastic] to allow for customisation and waste reduction.

‘Zero-weld steel dining set’ by Oluwa Kayinsade

We talk often about how we might integrate AI into design for more effective and productive output, especially as a country in the global south. So it was little surprise to find designers addressing the subject here. Architect Oluwa Kayinsade’s ‘zero-weld steel dining set’ was one of the week’s highlights. It is a combination of laser-printed steel dinner sets, surrounding a table made of steel and glass. The designer describes it as ‘a modern look created to address the challenges of limited skilled labour and production resources in Nigeria’, but the real story lies in its artistic quality. Impressively for a product with no welding traces by human hand, it still has durability and soul.

‘Homenka’ collaboration by Zoe Chinonso Ene and Tayo Adenaike

120 years ago, a secret society indigenous to the Igbo culture in Southeast Nigeria developed a writing system. They were the Ekpe secret society and they called this writing system ‘Nsibidi’. Now, in 2024, it re-emerged as one of the important highlights of the design week in a rendition of three mediums: painting; textile; and steel furniture. The project is a collaboration between Zoe Chinonso Ene and Tayo Adenaike, titled ‘Homenka’. Chinonso’s steel stool is shaped like an hourglass and inspired by the ‘oji’ the Igbo kola nut, incorporating elements found in the sacred fruit to make small detailed carvings. Nsibidi is the system used by Igbo people to document their cultural heritage, including heavenly bodies like the sun and stars. Tayo Adenaike uses the Igbo ritual object ‘uli’ to create these illustrative Nsibidi paintings. Adenaike’s painting and Chinonso’s textile both portray symbols derived from the ‘oji’.

‘Akpoti’ by Tosin Oshinowo

Tosin Oshinowo has a deep knowledge of design references, which shape her practice as both architect and designer. This year, she exhibited a set of stools inspired by West African urban furniture. The project is called ‘Akpoti’ and pays homage to indigenous, anonymously designed stools. The ‘Akpoti’ is made of local materials and celebrates their usage across the country, especially their function in trades and inside the home. 'I wanted to celebrate scarcity and the ability to do more with less. It is a reminder of what beauty can happen when we think differently and work within the limits of our environment,' Oshinowo said.

designweeklagos.com

There is something alchemically exciting about Amah – a new members’ club, co-working space and interdisciplinary meeting point for Lagos’ creative class (opening 20 October 2024). It is founded by photographer, art director and stylist Daniel Obasi, known for his book Beautiful Resistance, published as part of Louis Vuitton’s Fashion Eye series. The tome offers a visually arresting narrative on the queer community of Nigeria and the recent youth-led protests against institutional violence.

With Amah, Obasi expands his community-driven movement thesis further, with the aim of building a physical environment where inspiration, vocation and wonder can meet. We sat down with him to hear more.

How Amah came to life in Lagos

Wallpaper*: Why did you feel it important to open Amah and why now?

Daniel Obasi: In December 2022, I was feeling stuck in terms of Lagos. I had done a lot of cute stuff, a lot of projects, but I wasn’t really seeing myself in the Lagos space anymore. And it felt like everyone was leaving. We were going on a location scout, when I first saw the space [the top floor of the landmark Eleganza Tower]. I then went home and told my friend, ‘I saw one of the most gorgeous spaces in Lagos.’ And because I am a visual person, and I have foresight, I could tell what, if well done, the space could look like. My friends convinced me and said, ‘You can do it.’ I wasn't sure I could afford it, because it came with an all-encompassing budget as there was so much renovation work needed. And I didn't think it was something I could take on by myself. But my friend said, ‘But you’ve always said you wanted community. And maybe this is God’s way of telling you that it is time to weave that community you’ve always talked about.’

W*: What is your vision for Lagos’ creative community and what role will Amah play?

DO: So, my vision is I want people to be able to find themselves within the space. And even though we say it’s a members’ club, we are not saying membership in the sense of trying to be elitist. It is more to make sure that we are aware of who you are and we can vouch that this is a good person to be associated with the space. We want you to be vulnerable in this space, because part of being an artist is being vulnerable. We want people to be able to talk about their problems and be honest and have honest conversations with others. And for you to do that, we have to be sure that your interests are also protected and supported.

W*: What made you choose Lagos Island for your location and the Eleganza Building in particular?

DO: I think chance and fate played a role. I just stumbled upon it. The building is by Cappa and D’Alberto [a noted construction and design company that has been operating in Nigeria since 1934] and they have very sophisticated tastes, as this building is a marvel. A lot of my work intersects with Lagos Island. In the Louis Vuitton book, I shot mostly on rooftops and in abandoned buildings in Lagos Island and Ebute Metta. In the book, there is an image that talks about a heralding of a movement. That is what Beautiful Resistance is about. And I think that is what Amah is becoming, so maybe the book was a foreshadowing of what I am currently creating.

W*: Can you tell us a little bit about the collaborators you have chosen for the design aspect of the space?

DO: Roosevelt Amase, Uche Uba, Christina Nwabugo – these are the collaborators I work with on every project of my life! But it is more about people who exist in my space. It’s like an extended family. I feel like my secret weapon when it comes to ideation is actually conversations and we have a lot. A lot of things we have created we have made from recycled materials and scraps, and sourcing old furniture from warehouses that we can either repurpose or re-tweak. We repainted some original calabash gourds and stools our cobalt blue colour just to see how that would be interesting. We also designed pieces, like the lamps, chairs and sofas that are made by artisans; and yes, you can order from Amah Artisanal. Our artisans are scattered all around Lagos. The artisanal market here needs more structure in terms of education, and we just try to guide them as much as possible. But because we want this space to feel as experimental as possible, it is very important to view even these pieces as experiments.

W*: You are best known as a photographer, but you’ve had many other lives: graphic artist, stylist, fine artist, filmmaker, furniture designer. Is refusing to be defined as one thing something you are bringing to the Amah essence?

DO: Absolutely. We have just one life. Amah has just one life, and she will live it to the fullest. My friends describe Amah as a diva, she gets and does exactly what she wants, so Amah is not afraid to wear many hats. I wore an architectural hat for this. I have never designed a building in my life before and I designed and renovated all of this by myself – working with a contractor and engineers and them letting me know what is possible. And I am also making mistakes and being OK with making mistakes. I think I can actually design a house now. My mum says I behave like the additional seasoning you put last minute in the food when you’re not so sure and then that is the flavour that you bring to spaces. I think that is what my talent really, really is.

W*: For your opening what is the plan and is it tied to a theme?

DO: Our opening programme is very interesting. We are launching with a campaign called ‘Amah Loves You’. Amah Loves You with Daniel Obasi and friends. It’s a roll-out that will include short clips and it will all be tied into our Amah cocktails. We are trying to embody the retro feel that we think Amah is really about. That whole going to house parties, being somewhere you can have a cute conversation, which is what we are trying to bring back. We will also have cocktail editorials, with them looking lovely and retro in glasses. And then the final thing we’re doing is the launch itself, which will be an art exhibition of the space.

W*: Is Amah’s inclusive mandate because people often feel judged? How important is it to you that you are an ally to all communities?

DO: It is definitely a part of it, Amah is very inclusive; even in the campaign, we are trying to make sure that we illustrate how everyone here is welcome. For the co-working space, we are trying to structure it as packages so you can pay for a three-month package, you can pay for a one-month package. And the idea is that if you are a co-worker, you are a member here. I feel like life changes, the point you are at today doesn’t mean that’s where you are going to be for the rest of your life. You might be someone who can afford to come here for one month and then tomorrow you become someone who can afford to be here the whole year.

W*: Can you share some of the programming you have in place for the club?

DO: Part of the inspiration for Amah was the original community spaces that I [came across] when I was breaking into the scene: Stranger Lagos [a pioneering design-led concept store] and Café Neo. Stranger was owned by Yegwa Ukpo and people would come and the door was always open. I could come in and just be. So, we have the Amah Conversations, which is a podcast and a video where we invite people to sit down and have conversations; there is no host. We the team have put together some questions like a deck of cards and you randomly answer. We had our first episode shot [with] Yegwa and Adeju Thompson of Lagos Space Programme [a non-binary, luxury design project]. It was important that I open this thing right, so I had to pay homage to the OG of community building.

W*: Do you see Amah expanding beyond its building?

DO: It is so funny because the meaning of ‘amah’ in Igbo, when you actually break it down, is ‘a community space for gathering’, so every individual comes from an ‘amah’. Our name also comes from ‘amamihe’, which means ‘wisdom’. So ‘amamihe’ is to know, to understand and that’s why our tagline is ‘a space for gathering and knowledge’. I do see Amah expanding beyond the building, because we are very passionate about community development. Our programmes are already design-, research- and materials-led. It is about trying to figure out why certain problems exist and think of ways to fix them. We are still developing what we can explore first as an outreach. We have a really small team and there is quite a lot of stuff to do, but we believe we can do it.

Amah will open on 20 October 2024, danielobasi.com

The Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024 has been revealed, highlighting 20 studios from around the world as some of the year's most exciting newcomers.

Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 24th edition.

Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios, from Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, the UK, the USA, with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024

Here are the 20 practices celebrated in this year's Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024 – spanning 19 countries and five continents.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Europe

Kasawoo, UK

London-based Kasawoo was founded by Kyriaki (Katie) Kasabalis and Darius Woo in 2020, after they met during their studies at Cornell University in the USA. Their studio was established with an aim to work on bringing great design to everyone. 'Early on in our practice, we discovered that good design was often out of reach for most people, and we made a commitment to change that. For us, good design does not need to come with a big price tag. That is why we set up our practice to bring this ethos to life,' they say.

This desire is combined with an approach that draws on a more ‘gentle’ architecture – minimalism, not through formal reduction, but rather through the efficiency of both design gestures and resources.

Brown Urbanism, UK

Richard Brown's Brown Urbanism was born some ten years ago, as a London-based architecture and urbanism design practice with a mission to 'create better places for people to inhabit that are inclusive, engaging and meaningful'. As part of this philosophy, the studio works on a range of typologies and scales, including commercial, residential, retail and hospitality; always with a focus on sustainable, low-cost, high-impact design.

'Simple, well-thought-through design that works for the client while creating distinctive and meaningful urban environments,' says Brown. 'We are interested in how design can better reflect, support and enable new ways of inhabiting and experiencing space. We are particularly interested in how the home can support the complexities of life’s requirements – from working from home and experiencing nature to treating the home as a performative cultural place.'

Mast, Denmark

Mast, founded in 2021 by Australian architect Marshall Blecher and Danish maritime designer and architect Magnus Maarbjerg, is on a mission to improve the relationship between the city and the sea. 'We are motivated by the amazing potential that comes from reconnecting with water, as we have seen the amazing effect that even small improvements to water access and quality can produce in cities,' Blecher explains.

Specialising in architecture on or near water, the duo have completed several small structures floating around Copenhagen harbour. There is the 20 sq m tiny prototype floating island KBHØ1 (KBH for Copenhagen and Ø for island) with its 6m tall Linden tree; and the portable ‘harbour bath’, or Dyppezone, which can be freely moved around the city’s waterways, creating intimate bathing experience along its way.

Studio Argus, Estonia

Architect Margit Argus brings more than 20 years of experience in interior design, fine arts, and architecture to her young and fast-emerging architecture studio. The practice, based in Tallinn, is rooted in a Nordic aesthetic, bringing together local Estonian vernacular and a fine attention to detail. Current projects include a seaside hotel in Tallinn, a high-rise residential building, and a university campus in Tallinn, alongside a handful of schools and single-family houses.

Studio Collaboratorio, Finland

Young Helsinki practice Studio Collaboratorio was founded in 2016 by Finnish architect Kristiina Kuusiluoma and Italian architect Martino De Rossi. The dynamic, emerging practice aims to 'create beautiful habitats by using natural and ecological materials while at the same time paying close attention to the place and its history: more beauty, communality, affordability and humanity! Interactive cooperation, profound ecology and long life cycle are at the heart of everything.'

Branco del Rio, Portugal

Founded by Paula del Rio and João Branco, the architecture studio Branco del Rio is based in the riverfront city of Coimbra, Portugal’s former capital. Motivated by curiosity and influenced by the ever-changing city around them, the architects view each project as an opportunity to investigate different contexts and topics. Gathering inspiration from their travels, books and colleagues the team say: ‘We are convinced that what we do can improve quality of life. We live and work in spaces we designed, we share spaces we designed with friends. It is a privilege and also a motivation.’

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Asia

Playball Studio, India and Spain

Established in 2017, Playball Studio is an Indo-Spanish architecture firm led by architects Celia Fernández Duque and Ronak Gangdev. Based in Rajkot, India, and Valladolid, Spain, the studio works on a range of uniquely contextual residential and commercial projects, often within urban conditions.

The word ‘Playball’ reflects the studio’s philosophy of always ‘playing ball’ and prioritising the needs of its clients. Fernández Duque and Gangdev are also conscious of the impact of their projects on the physical environment. The studio’s core strength lies in striking a harmonious balance between the organic and the technical, simplicity and refinement, and form and functionality.

Tsing-Tien Making, China

Suzhou-born Freja Bao's studio, Tsing-Tien Making (TTM), was founded following the architect's education in London's Bartlett School of Architecture and stints in Japan, in the offices of KPF Architects and Kengo Kuma & Associates. Bao set up her independent practice in her home town in 2023 and has been going from strength to strength since.

'As a collective deeply passionate about architecture, we at Tsing-Tien Making thrive on embracing challenges and infusing each project with innovative experimentation,' she says. Beyond her first completed project, featured here, Bao adds that there's more to come: 'Our focus extends to a range of exciting undertakings, including the development of a retirement house, the restoration of a scientist’s former residence, and the conceptualisation of a private collector’s room.'

L Architects, Singapore

Boutique studio L Architects was founded in 2016 by Lim Shing Hui. Based in Singapore, the practice focuses on creating homes that enhance the living experience. ‘Architecture has the power to evoke a wide range of emotions within us. You have to find the soul of the space,’ says Lim. ‘The search [for this] is what keeps me motivated. I believe that a good piece of architecture has the ability to touch the human soul, communicate messages, stir empathy and at the same time quietly delight – and this in itself transcends mere physical realms.’

The studio also believes it is important to stay rooted in its culture, in particular the experiences, cultural background and personal journey of its founder, allowing this to inform the shape and unique style of each residential design, giving it a distinct authorship.

Studio Heech, South Korea

Working across a range of creative fields that encompass architecture, industrial design, furniture, and interactive performance installation, Studio Heech welcomes multi-layered, rich experiences. Meanwhile, ‘the craftsmanship of “making things” is still important in the 21st century,’ says Park. With a keen eye for detail, the studio strives to create its contemporary architectural expression through techniques that bridge technology and traditional manufacturing – ultimately addressing the fundamentals of urban architecture.

Championing both the traditional and the contemporary, the studio often creates intriguing architectural forms. As with many forward-thinking practices, Studio Heech integrates sustainability into its work. From planning through to construction, Park makes sure to collaborate with a wide network of engineers, artists and craftsmen to broaden ideas and spark curiosity within the creative process.

Touch Architect, Thailand

Based in the bustling Thai hub of Bangkok, Touch Architect crafts residences drawing on its cultural ties and environment, while adding sustainable architecture practices. When approaching a project, the duo applies a 'bottom-up approach’, meaning they focus on the functionality of the space before layering on aesthetics. ‘For us, good architecture must be functional, timeless, and sustainable,’ they say. ‘While beauty and aesthetics are also important, it comes as an enhancement which completes the architecture. Great architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis I Kahn inspire this philosophy in our work.’

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Africa

Fleury Atallah Architectes, Tunisia

Fleury Atallah Architectes is one of the exciting emerging architecture practices to be included in the annual Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024. Founded in 2011 by Catherine Fleury and Chacha Atallah, it has offices in Toulon, France and Carthage, Tunisia. The studio focuses mainly on residential projects for private clients who are after a sensitive, sober and context-specific approach as well as inventive and beautiful solutions to architectural and interior challenges; but it has also designed art galleries and wine production facilities.

SI.SA. Nigeria

African culture motivates Lagos-based architecture firm SI.SA. ‘We are influenced by the abstracted forms found in African traditional art and their ability to convey power and meaning,' says founder Seun Oduwole.

Founded in 2015, the ten-person firm aims 'to make beautiful buildings that enhance the built environment’. Dedicated to the betterment of communities, SI.SA focuses on inclusive and socially responsible architectural designs. Boasting a diverse portfolio of residential, educational, and cultural projects, the practice has worked on some impressive projects, such as the colourful John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History in Lagos.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Americas

AD-WO, USA

Ethiopia-born Emanuel Admassu and Australia-born Jen Wood formed AD-WO in New York in 2015. The young art and architecture studio brings together their 'divergent' backgrounds to create valuable 'friction' within their practice – which, combined with their agility and multi-disciplinary approach, gives them a distinct edge when it comes to crafting works that are 'transnational' and experimental. The portfolio of the research-based studio spans from images and objects to furniture, tapestries, installations, and buildings.

Studio Porto, Brazil

The emerging practice of Camila Porto stands out through its contemporary fusion of Brazilian culture with a cosmopolitan attitude. Studio Porto's projects are intended to be timeless, balanced, and hospitable, Porto explains – but functionality is equally paramount. Attention to detail, empathy, and integration with nature are also strengths.

'Our greatest influence is Brazilian modernism, which brings with it a legacy of architectural solutions guided by simplicity and elegance. We combine this foundation with a contemporary and global perspective, integrating elements of nature and prioritising people's wellbeing. This combination of values shapes our approach uniquely and innovatively in architecture and design,' Porto explains.

TigerQi Architecture, British Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis

Lavina Liburd started TigerQi Architecture in 2013, having previously worked at different firms and gained experience on a wealth of projects, from transportation and civic briefs to luxury residences and commercial buildings. With this under her belt, Liburd set up shop on her own, with a focus on a contemporary design approach that embraces simplicity and minimalism.

Due to the climate and topography of its secluded Caribbean home, the practice centres on three key principles; creating healthy buildings that support the social health and wellbeing of its clients; embracing hillside living to maximise views and light; and creating architecture that is designed to serve its community as a whole. These underlying principles are threaded into the studio's design process, wrapped up in a tropical modernism aesthetic.

Svima, Canada

Starting Svima five years ago, Anamarija Korolj and Leon Lai, looked towards nature and ecology. During our era of mass construction, the studio fine-tunes its mission by focusing on three key pillars: air, light and greenery. With this in mind, their designs draw on the blossoming biomes of Canada, while balancing a human-centric approach, ensuring that the client receives a design that provides ample access to nature. The studio's portfolio brings together a series of schemes that nod towards creating a more equitable and sustainable future.

Seeing themselves as ‘not only as designers of buildings but as stewards of human experience’, Korolj and Lai seek to unite art and architecture to ‘continuously leverage the two mediums as vehicles with a reciprocal relationship in pushing the boundaries of the visual and spatial expressions.’ The creative duo strives to implement projects with a sense of place, resilience and inclusivity, ‘reflecting the essence of what it means to be Canadian.’

Büro Koray Duman, USA

This agile New York and Istanbul architecture practice – Büro Koray Duman – was founded by architect Koray Duman in 2014. The studio is a proudly immigrant- and LGBTQ-led business, comprising a team of architects that represent a diverse mix of nationalities and experiences. As a result, its output is equally varied and captivating - from projects for MoMA PS1 Museum, to the Finnish Cultural Institute NY, the Noguchi Museum, IKSV, artist Richard Prince, the American Society for Muslim Advancement, Council for Fashion Designers of America, and Design Within Reach.

Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: Oceania

Alexander Symes, Australia

Architect Alexander Symes founded his namesake practice in 2014 with a vision to challenge the current status quo in sustainability in architecture, pushing and challenging the field's boundaries. With a ‘hands-on’ approach and a speciality in delivering passive homes that don't impact their context negatively, the practice aims to create residential design with a purpose.

‘On a macro level, this ensures we contribute to protecting biodiversity and providing a future-proofed housing stock,’ says Symes, ‘while on a micro level providing a healthy and resilient home for our clients in the changing climate.’ With this in mind, it is arguably only natural that the environment would be the studio’s biggest influence. Keeping context and nature at the forefront of its decisions, the practice enjoys working with bio-based construction and existing materials and suppliers. The result is buildings with a natural feel and a reduced carbon footprint.

Spacecraft Architects, New Zealand

Spacecraft Architects founders Roberston and Gittos often tackle limited budgets and the smaller scale in their work – a challenge they enjoy taking on to make architecture more accessible. Their own headquarters is nestled off the back of a self-built house in Whanganui, and is a clear representation of the studio's ethos.‘ The constraints offered by tight budgets and difficult (affordable) sites breed creativity and drive our design work,’ the creative duo told Wallpaper*.

With an interest in buildings that do not rely on luxurious materials or highly detailed construction, the pair hope to create powerful architecture even within the simplest structures. Working on infill housing across New Zealand opened up a niche for a wealth of recent work focused on the rising appeal of co-housing, in various forms of multi-residential projects and apartment builds.

'Design and the rarity and quality of gemstones are everything to me. My love for diamonds stems from the feeling I get when I am wearing them; one of timeless elegance, femininity and strength,' says Akunna Nwala-Akano, founder of Akano Diamonds (formerly known as DEJ), the Lagos-based high-jewellery house, that draws deeply from her cultural heritage and lifelong belief in the transformative power of jewels.

In the space of three years, Akano Diamonds has grown from being an inner-sanctum secret of Nigeria’s jewellery cognoscenti to a growing presence globally, with celebrity clientele and a soon-to-open flagship store. Akano Diamonds’ recently released high-jewellery pieces came with the twin mandates of seducing clients and presenting the case for the renaissance of the jewellery landscape on the continent. 'Of course, I have experienced people assuming that high and fine jewellery coming out of Africa would not be up to standard, would be poorly made, would not be anything to reckon with, and it is always a pleasure to surprise.'

Nwala-Akano’s early life was immersed in jewels: 'My grandmother was a lover of jewellery. It was from her that I learnt about emeralds, rubies, coral and other precious gemstones and she gifted me my first pieces as is our custom.' Nwala-Akano hails from an aristocratic family and it has informed her perspective on wearing, collecting and now, designing. 'Jewellery is not just about adornment. As an Igbo woman, it is spiritually and culturally significant. The studs that a baby wears, be they gold or diamonds, echo a prayer, that as the child grows, they will always have an abundant life. Status and lineage have long been depicted in the kind of jewellery people wear, be it for occasions or every day. It is a communication in and of itself. When people see you, they know of you before you have even said anything.'

Further informing Nwala-Akano’s creative process and the ideation behind each piece are folklore, the agrarian year and nature. 'I am a very passionate person and the things I come in contact with, whether emotionally or visually, recently or from long held memories, inspire me.' Thus, a rare 75ct rubellite is reimagined as an intoxicating elixir vessel, the centrepiece to a diamond and ruby suite called Mkpo, Igbo for ‘Potion’.

A cache of emerald beads, reminiscent of the intense green hues that follow the rainy season, is transformed into the suite ‘Mkpulu’, Igbo for ‘seeds’, with diamonds mirroring the luminous dew found upon each leaf. An ode to the black velvet tamarind, Nwala-Akano’s favourite fruit, is realised in ‘Anwi’: a tsavorite, orange sapphire and diamond suite. 'I kept returning to the green leaves, and the orange flesh. I already knew I would elevate the piece with diamonds, but when I first saw those orange sapphires, I felt like popping them in my mouth because they looked so delicious.' Finally, ‘Chika’, which means ‘God Is Great’ is a turquoise, emerald and diamond love letter to her daughter, and as the gemstone is considered sacred in many cultures, especially poignant.

Of her choice of Igbo nomenclature for her pieces, the jewellery designer explains, ‘my first language is Igbo, so I think and feel in it first, and even though I have travelled the world, I view language as an anchor. And because I love and understand my culture deeply, it is something I want to share through my jewellery.' Jewellery has long been a portal to other cultures and nations, but with Nwala-Akano’s work it also animates contemporary discourses on what remains when tradition segues with modernity.

Like many an autodidact, Nwala-Akano’s design journey was birthed from being unable to find precisely what she wanted with other jewellers. 'I started sketching designs during the pandemic, it was a strange time but also a perfect time to begin creating.' While her extensive private collection of jewels features many of the hallowed houses of Paris’ Place Vendôme and beyond, she was keen to articulate and refine her own design language, revelling in experimentation. 'I create a lot. A piece can start from a series of crazy sketches, that are in search of the right stones,' she says, laughing. 'From there, will be a process of making, oftentimes dismantling, and figuring out ways a piece can be transformed and enjoyed in many ways by the wearer.'

Her clients tend to be women, who like her are seeking 'classic pieces that have the undertone of the fierce African woman' an intention reflected in the house’s bold aesthetic. Of the recent name change, Nwala-Akano reflects, 'I changed the brand name from DEJ to Akano Diamonds because so much of my personal story has informed how I design and create.' It is a narrative she is keen to share with the world. And by placing the most popular and enduring gemstone of all at the heart of all she designs, she has made her intention to create 'a heritage house that lives on for many generations' as clear as any flawless gem.

akanodiamonds.com

Studio Imagine. Simply Architecture – or SI.SA – joins the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024, making this young practice the Nigerian entry within our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios.

Who: SI.SA

African culture motivates Lagos-based architecture firm SI.SA. ‘We are influenced by the abstracted forms found in African traditional art and their ability to convey power and meaning,' says founder Seun Oduwole.

Founded in 2015, the ten-person firm aims 'to make beautiful buildings that enhance the built environment’. Dedicated to the betterment of communities, SI.SA focuses on inclusive and socially responsible architectural designs. Boasting a diverse portfolio of residential, educational, and cultural projects, the practice has worked on some impressive projects, such as the colourful John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History in Lagos.

Focusing on simplicity, clarity, and unity, the firm's strength lies in using design to craft compelling narratives. ‘Our ability to tell stories through visual metaphors has been well received by clients and the public,' state the team.

Over the last nine years SI.SA has sought to weave African identity into its work through contextual design. ‘Our biggest influence is our culture, expressed through African art. The abstracted sculptural forms rooted in Nigerian philosophical traditions inform our thought and application.’ Championing African heritage, SI.SA is putting African architecture on the global map. ‘We have an opportunity to create a contemporary and contextual architectural language in the Global South.'

What: Scissor House

Scissor House is a contemporary four-bedroom home located in Park View, Ikoyi. The project, set on an 850 sq m site, also includes two semi-detached townhouses to the rear. The main home at the front has a gate and grounds for parking while the rear semi-detached homes have a separate entrance for added privacy.

‘A friend approached me to design a contemporary family house on a tight plot,’ says Oduwole. Despite the small site, ‘we were able to find a simple and elegant solution to challenging constraints’.

He continues, 'A central entrance and feature stair connects accommodation wings on either side, like an open pair of scissors.’

The form of the angular dwelling was generated by deconstructing planes to create compelling spaces. As you enter, light softly filters through the skylight down into the lobby. A lofty atrium gives the interior a calm and tranquil feel as the white walls and furniture are cleverly contrasted by bold black accents. Here, a wooden staircase with a glass balustrade guides you up the building as you venture to the private quarters. At the top of the dwelling, residents can enjoy the terraces that are masterfully framed by cantilevered beams.

Why: Architects’ Directory 2024

Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 24th edition. Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios from Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, the UK, the USA, with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.

si.sa.com

With The John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, Studio Imagine Simply Architecture (SI.SA) addresses important contemporary needs by designing a vibrant building that celebrates Yoruba identity, tradition, and heritage. ‘It has become extremely important to shape the narratives around Africa, its people, and its diaspora’, states practice principal architect Seun Oduwole. 

Explore The John Randle Centre

According to Oduwale, SI.SA’s red and yellow fractal form scheme is inspired by traditional Nigerian architecture. ‘The building rises from the earth in a nod to Yoruba spirituality and the metal screen around the façade pays homage to age-old skills like metalwork, looming, and weaving,’ explains Oduwole. 

‘In a number of ways, we applied historical patterns and visual metaphors as concept drivers,’ he adds. A clever green roof also links the building back to the landscape. ‘We sought to create a building grounded in context and conscious of its surroundings,’ states Oduwole.

Located in the Onikan district of Lagos Island, this colourful scheme forms part of a larger development commissioned by Lagos State. This urban regeneration project aimed at restoring a former swimming pool, replacing a demolished cultural hall, and revitalising the lost landscape. The name of SI.SA's museum pays tribute to Dr John Randle, a Sierra Leonean doctor, who built the original swimming pool on the site in 1928 for Nigerians after British colonialists had refused to provide one.

Inside, the building takes visitors on an immersive voyage into Yoruba culture where they can learn about rich oral African traditions. ‘Visitors have left feeling, inspired, joyful, and proud. People feel represented and it’s very humbling,’ states Oduwole. 

Guests can learn about the stories, beliefs, and traditions of Yoruba people through areas dedicated to fashion, craftsmanship, and storytelling. Here rich Nigerian garments and beautiful African art can be found alongside compelling wooden artifacts and powerful Lagosian literature.

Featuring 1,000 sq m of exhibition space, a library, multipurpose rooms, a theatre, and a seminar room, the building seeks to attract both locals and international tourists. ‘Internally we sought to interrogate museology as a construct to create a museum visitor experience that was relatable and immersive.’  

The John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History is a bold cultural attraction that speaks to past, present, and future Yoruba culture. It is a place where history, archaeology, and storytelling meet to honour African heritage. In this project, SI.SA has created a didactic, contextual, and eye-catching museum that should be visited by anyone who wants to learn more about African culture.  

si.sa.com

'Design for me as a practice started recently, but the need to solve problems started a long time ago,' shares Josh Egesi, who founded his interdisciplinary design studio Ike in Lagos in 2021, at the height of pandemic. Since then, Egesi’s studio has enjoyed the kind of speedy ascent that many design practitioners can only dream of.

His Ikenna tripod fan became something of a cult collectable and tropical home essential for the aesthetically minded in Nigeria, and global acclaim has come via a seminal debut at Milan Design Week 2024, where his Ayo bench was part of Wallpaper’s Class of ’24 exhibition at Triennale. However, plaudits aside, it is delivering solutions from a project, product and community level that underpin Egesi’s design credo.

Josh Egesi's influential designs

Origin stories often provide clues to a designer’s future trajectory and for Egesi (who holds a Diploma in Industrial Design from Federal Polytechnic in Auchi Edo State, and a BA in Fine and Applied Art from the University of Benin), an insatiable passion for a plethora of subjects coupled by an innate inquisitiveness have been the roots. 

'I was a curious child, one of the things I created was a fan because I felt like this would be a cool idea and it made a lot of sense that we can walk around with handheld fan.' It was a prescient idea, as handheld fans are now ubiquitous across Africa, and Egesi himself burst onto the scene with a fan, but it is his commitment to having a holistic understanding of design that marks him out as an important new voice. 'I am interested in how humans function and I am constantly asking questions and trying to understand how I can use my knowledge to enhance something else. I have worked as a graphic artist, and I even interned with an electrical engineer at one point.'

Egesi is known for creating pieces that articulate contemporary Africa’s mores, noting; 'I think design, just like music, is a form of cultural documentation.' The Ikeoku floor lamp and the Ayo Bench are compelling expositions of this. Whilst the lamp is a love letter to the kerosene lanterns that are used in urban centres and rural locations in Africa, the bench delves into the importance of play (Ayo is a traditional game that has variants across Nigeria), how colours have strong spiritual associations, and what leisure might look like in the here and now. 

'The Ayo game is one side and the magazine holder on the other side because I am transcultural to an extent, and I made the bench red to prompt deep conversations. A lot of people associate red with juju in Nigeria, but red is also the dominant colour of Benin,' where Egesi studied. It is these ambiguities that Egesi chooses to continue to explore in his work.

Egesi’s practice is also reflective of the material realities for designers living and working in Nigeria. Of the fewer material choices in comparison to peers residing in the Global North he explains, 'I really wouldn’t call it a limitation, we just have a different material culture, and we need to find a way to innovate.' He often returns to wood explaining, 'I am trying to educate people about our material culture and how we need to evolve it. Wood is easy to work with, easily accessible, malleable and thus easy to forge, and can take on any form. It can be used to replace plastic essentially, so it works for me.' The Yabasi table lamp, another commercial success for the studio, is testimony to this.

Egesi’s elegy to collective memory comes to the fore in many of his pieces; 'I design pieces that I think resonate with people that have shared similar experiences to me,' he says. However, Ike is not a nostalgia project. Whilst the past might gently be alluded to, Egesi notes: 'One of my core values is supporting cultural evolution. I think a lot of the time in Africa we tend to have some sort of reverence for our culture. Forgetting that this culture was a way of life for our ancestors and if they were alive now, it would have changed.'

Embracing this call, Egesi launched Sapele, a surfing brand that is centred on the surf culture found in Tarkwa Bay and acts as a social enterprise and design incubator. 'We basically created a surfboard from ocean waste. We used wood locally sourced and then we used Styrofoam collected from the seaside and made our first prototype.' 

Whilst Egesi observes that 'industrial design is capital intensive as a practice', a challenge that has affected the ecosystem in Africa, he is ultimately optimistic about his future contributions both regionally and globally. 'I want to be that connecting bridge for our designs, and collaborations would be amazing.' Given his first three years of operations, there is certainly more to come from this dynamic and distinct voice.

@josh_egesi

In the mid to late 1950s, the wave of independence swept across West Africa, and along with it, a search for new meaning for its freshly created nation-states. At the same time, in the region’s built environment, modernist architecture took root, reinterpreted to adapt to the climate; and by the 1960s, it had become the poster image of independence and Pan-Africanism (as discussed in London’s V&A's recently opened exhibition 'Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence').

Simultaneously, musical expression was at an all-time high, especially with the introduction of a new genre of music, Afrobeat, which, like tropical modernism, synthesised foreign influences into a new cohesive and contextual whole. Its purveyor, Fela Kuti, was of Nigerian descent. His style crystallised in musical form a zeitgeist in the region, melding infectious percussion and wind instruments with critical social and political commentary.

Afrobeats and modernism: a parallel history

In this context, tropical modernism came to be identified as a tool of power, and among those leading this charge was politician Kwame Nkrumah, the first prime minister of Ghana, who saw architecture as an image-making tool that could become a beacon for a free Africa.

At the same time, in Nigeria, military rule meant that many of the bigger commissioned buildings became sites of immense corruption, eventually suffering from arson and mismanagement. To this day, some remain abandoned. While architecture stood as a political tool of liberation, music through Fela’s Afrobeat stood as a check and a voice of the many against the few who had seized power. Contextually, these two art forms became linked as elements of representation while opposing each other. 

Still, there are hardly any explicit and official links between local music and the regional form that modernism took in Nigeria – unlike the 'musique concrète' and its spatial expressions of IIannis Xenakis in his well-documented Philips Pavilion (in collaboration with Le Corbusier). 

Instead, a relationship seems to be brewing retrospectively between these now largely abandoned concrete structures and Afrobeats, a sub-culture and genre that evolved from Afrobeat, with the former becoming a site for reclamation and artistic expression. Once symbols of a newly liberated country, modernist buildings are now being transformed into a stage, and sets for creativity, used especially by some of Afrobeats' biggest contemporary stars, offering appealing visual backdrops for the pictures their music videos paint.

The Trade Fair Complex (1977), designed by Yugoslav architect Zoran Bojovic as part of Energoprojekt's mission in Nigeria, and the National Theatre (1976), designed and built by Techno Expostroy, a Bulgarian construction firm, were erected under military rule and to coincide with the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977.

The National Theatre featured on stage in a Grammy performance by award-winning Nigerian singer and songwriter Burna Boy. The building's stained glass murals highlighted in the performance were done by a collection of artists, including Yusuf Grillo and Erahbor Emokpae. The latter worked closely with the architects and was commissioned to make the friezes that adorn the lower parapet of the theatre.

Burna Boy's 2021 Grammy set's connection with the ill-kept building couldn't have been more timely, as the following year plans were hastened to renovate the structure (a restoration that remains ongoing). 

The theatre is also a backdrop in Nigerian musician Wizkid’s video for his single ‘IDK’. The performance here is set against civic and cultural infrastructure. Although no official links were made public between the song and its setting, it hints that these buildings retain greater value in their current state than the new architecture springing up in the country today.

Meanwhile, the Trade Fair Complex with its intricately welded bronze-plated screen has been featured in videos by Burna Boy, Humblesmith, and Prettyboy D-O. 

The rooftop of the Old Barclays Bank building and the Shell building in Lagos, designed by Walker, Harwood and Cranswick, and Design Group Nigeria, respectively, have also played host to a plethora of artists seeking the incredible concrete architecture of Lagos Marina and its impressive brise-soleils for their backdrop to craft a sense place. Through these acts, the artists reclaim these sites from abandonment and activate them, setting a precedent and a call to action.

In Nigeria, many examples of this regional modernism lay abandoned; at the same time, it is currently arguably a big export from the country in architectural terms, with the world looking to once again learn from the climate-conscious solutions of this style. Afrobeats is equally a local genre with worldwide appeal and a significant export in the music world. 

Through Afrobeats, a case is being made, albeit latent, for what is worth preserving while simultaneously questioning predetermined and alternative uses that these buildings may have today. Lagos is filled with such examples, many of which sadly, face demolition threats. Artists' activations pose the question: might these sites be catalysts for cultural development, especially given their long history and collaboration with the creatives that birthed them?

Lagos Biennial 2024 (3 – 10 February), the event’s fourth edition and a return after a two-year hiatus, was held with the theme ‘refuge’, at the Tafawa Balewa Square, an address honouring Nigeria’s first prime minister upon independence, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The biennial was founded in 2017 by an artist collective under the Àkéte Art Foundation; it has since been dedicated to the curation, presentation and critical discourse of art in Africa, adding to the conversation around politics, economic and social complexities across the continent. 

The 2024 edition featured a host of creatives across architecture, arts, fashion and film spaces, all interpreting the refuge theme in their own way and shaping their works through it. 

Lagos Biennial 2024 highlights

Miracle Central by Victor Ehikhamenor 

In what would be regarded as the tallest installation at the biennial, visual artist Victor Ehikhamenor fused art with architecture, creating a grand installation titled Miracle Central that took the viewers back to the 2000s. The installation, a dialogue on religion, and the long chokehold it has held on Nigeria for decades, took viewers into a ‘church’ clad with thousands of white handkerchiefs, which symbolise the Pentecostal movement in the country. Everything within the installation is suspended in the air, from floating chairs and musical instruments to the pulpit and the microphone stand. By laying several mirrors on the floor, Ehikhamenor rendered equality before God. ‘With Miracle Central, I extend the focus of my ongoing interrogations on the duality found in expressions of religion and culture to Pentecostalism,’ Ehikhamenor said. ‘Miracle Central invites meditation on the hallowed space to be found at the intersections of religion, politics, history, and expressions of belonging.’

Human hive 3 by Chinenye Emelogu

One of the most memorable installations for its bold and vibrant colours, Human Hive 3 invited viewers to approach it with their own interpretations. The work is artist Chinenye Emelogu’s way of creating a social structure that doesn’t feel strange or influenced by societal expectation. Emelogu was inspired by the social patterns of bees, their communal struggle to create a utopia, and she tries to create a dialogue with happenings in Nigeria, posing questions about what utopia means for the country and how Nigerians can work towards it. The installation was made from strips of plastic rings used in product packaging. 

‘Traces of Ecstasy’ a pavilion curated by KJ Abudu

Titled after an essay by the British-Nigerian visual artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Traces of Ecstasy is an architectural pavilion that features alongside an art exhibition and symposium, and premiered at the Lagos Biennial 2024. It was curated by KJ Abudu and features the work of creatives from various fields: Evan Ifekoya, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Raymond Pinto, Adeju Thomspon and Temitayo Shonibare. In the pavilion, viewers were met by a visual installation that explained key moments in Nigeria’s history, from the 1960s to the modern day, including independence and #EndSars (a movement against police brutality in Nigeria), as well as a video on 1980s Area Scatter, Nigeria’s first crossdresser. Sound and fashion installations are presented in the form of calabash sound systems and floating adire (tie-dye) fabric. ‘Traces of Ecstasy aims to unsettle the colonial capitalist power structures that maintain and reproduce the ideological legitimacy of the nation-state in post/neocolonial Africa,’ said Abudu. 

Yakachana by Ibrahim Mahama 

Yakachana by Ibrahim Mahama addresses ecological concerns, and what it is like to share space with other organisms, in an artistically grotesque installation featuring decayed bags. Mahama looks back to Ghana in the 1960s, the abandonment of buildings, and how they became home to other creatures and organisms. The installation, made of jute sacks used to transport cocoa, sees the artist investigate failed global systems and the problem of industrialisation. ‘Through my work and the kind of objects that I use – old decayed or discarded materials to create large-scale installations and site-specific interventions – I realised that the abandoned buildings had really interesting qualities,’ said Mahama. 

Betok babhi, Babhi betandat, bassem, by Em’kal Eyongakpa

Em’kal Eyongakpa created vivid sonic experiences for viewers in the form of a beautiful installation built with nets and almost a thousand crates of eggs. Vibrations and motion were key, with viewers standing on top of a vibrating wooden platform to experience different frequencies and modes. Eyongakpa examined collective histories of habitats, how they mimic, evoke and employ elements and natural phenomena. The piece takes inspiration from poly-rhythmic beat generators and sonic activations from refugee camps in Cross River, South South Nigeria, where the artist had created an art community. 

Omo elu by Tabita Rezaire 

Textile art meets spirituality in Tabita Rezaire’s installation, featuring seven clay-stained indigo fabrics that paid homage to Yemoja, the mother of the Orishas and the goddess of water. Each textile piece embodies a spiritual awareness. Differently sized calabashes with cowries placed at the centre of the installation symbolised a ritualistic form of practice. ‘Omo elu is an ode to the nuances of blue, echoing the many paths of Yemoja: Yemoja the mother, the warrior, the creator, the healer, the ruler, the dancer,’ said Rezaire. 

lagos-biennial.org

When Taiwo Adeyemi set out to document and preserve Nigeria’s film history as curator of last year’s Lagos exhibition, ‘Losing Daylight’, he spent time travelling across the country talking with people to find some of the items he’d eventually display at an exhibition. 

After collecting a number of items, the restoration process started, to ensure they were good enough to be presented. ‘A lot of the items we found were in terrible condition, and some of their custodians were also unwilling to let them go. The ones that did [requested] exorbitant prices,’ Adeyemi says.

Documenting Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry

Popularly known as Nollywood, a moniker that first appeared in writing in 2002, the Nigerian film industry has gone through different eras – from colonial to the Golden Age, the video film era, and now the New Nigerian Cinema era – always evolving, and continues to deliver new films and shows for its audience. 

With an estimated 2,500 films churned out yearly, Nollywood is currently the second-largest movie industry in terms of output, after India’s Bollywood. But a lot of the history regarding the people behind the industry and its expansion has been lost due to the lack of documentation.

‘Documenting the history of Nollywood is important because people do not have context. For an industry this big, it is impossible that there shouldn’t be references,’ says Adeyemi. ‘When there is no reference, you’re limited with what you can build because you do not know what to compare it to, and whatever you build will feel incomplete. So I think it is important to build that context and create that reference so everybody trying to make Nollywood better as an industry today can compare their notes.’

Filling in the absence of historical evidence is something Adeyemi understands. He is bullish about preserving history, while making his work as a talent manager easy because ‘knowing the history of Nollywood and how the films that came before were structured creates a better understanding of stories’, especially for his clients.

As Nigerian films continue to do well locally and internationally, documenting it becomes more important, to make its history more accessible to the younger generation.

This has led to ‘Losing Daylight’ becoming not just an exhibition, but a permanent collection that preserves film history in Nigeria. The exhibition blended arts with history by displaying rare footage, old newspaper articles, scripts, memes from scenes that went viral, and physical media of old Nollywood films, providing a glimpse into both forgotten and unknown moments that shaped the industry as it is known today. 

A physical space to house all these items and restore more will open later in 2024, to serve as a museum for Nigeria’s film history, collecting and protecting the stories that continue to define the industry. ‘There’s nowhere you can walk into today and find a repository of film history in Nigeria, and this is what we want to change,’ says Adeyemi.

Adidas Lagos has just opened in a smartly retrofitted existing 1970s building, which has been completely transformed by Tosin Oshinowo of Oshinowo Studio (formerly cmDesign Atelier). The Nigerian architect led the project, which is sports and streetwear label Adidas’ first West African flagship store in Nigeria’s largest city – a landmark scheme for the busy Oshinowo, who also launches her curatorial vision at the Sharjah Architecture Triennale this week. The venue sits in Lagos' Victoria Island area and the commission was awarded through a competition. 

Adidas Lagos

In her design, Oshinowo introduced clean lines and a series of solid and perforated corrugated aluminium sheets (typically used for roofing), to create a striking façade illuminated smartly with LED linear lighting. 

This clever combination of open and closed spaces ensures the store has a dramatic shopfront and window, but remains suitably shaded, filtering the sunlight in to avoid overheating. An on-site solar power system, a sewage treatment plant with capacity for the reuse of waste water as irrigation, and an advanced air-conditioning system also help regulate the climate and the energy consumption within the building. 

Nigerian artists Chinelo Ezewudo, Osa Okunkpolor, Dennis Osadebe (also a participant in the recent Art X Lagos 2023), and Ayoola Gbolahan have created site-specific work for the store's interiors. 

'We have relished the opportunity to create a scheme that combines our love of Lagos and of Nigerian contemporary culture, with our global perspective and approach. Our design is inspired by the city ’s resilient, adaptable and go-getter resolve, building a place of convergence for sports and culture,' said Oshinowo.

oshinowostudio.com 

Art X Lagos 2023, the eighth edition of West Africa’s biggest art fair, united artists, curators, collectors and enthusiasts at the four-day event (2-5 November 2023), in a diverse celebration of mediums and materials. This year also offered great intersections, from Dennis Osadebe X NBA’s interactive experience combining basketball teams and painting, to an installation joining art and literature.

Art x Lagos 2023 highlights

An installation by Nigeria pavilion X MOWAA X Art X 

The Nigeria pavilion at Venice Biennale 2024 has been organised by the museum of west African art (MOWAA) and curated by Aindrea Emelife, and both parties have now marked this partnership with a new project for Art X Lagos. Regarded as the ‘Nigeria imaginary incubator project’, the installation explores different viewpoints of the country’s historical moments and also features an interactive audio experience where visitors are asked questions like, what does Nigeria smell like, how does Nigeria sound, and what would Nigeria be in 2050?

ART X exhibitions

‘Odafe’ by Dafe Oboro

Dafe Oboro, winner of the 2022 Art X Prize, took viewers on a journey of his life through his exhibition ‘Odafe’, using colour symbolism to elaborate his storytelling, with work including a self-portrait of the artist drenched in gold. He creates an allegory to naming, bringing together those who bear a similar name to him and carving a strong connectivity between them. 

Daniel Arman Quarshie

Nothing felt more cohesive than the exhibited work of Daniel Arman Quarshie, with a heavy interaction between painting and viewers. The work spotlights a family we are unaware of, perhaps Quarshie’s, and takes us on a decade-long experience of how a family is made, capturing a portrait of a marriage and a family photograph. In one of the paintings, there seems to be a celebration, perhaps of motherhood. A mother cradles her child, her face embellished with hope as she joins a group of women for a photograph, their faces holding the simplicity of their youths as they smile. 

Ahemaa ne Akatakyie by Yaw Owusu

At first sight, Yaw Owusu’s Ahemaa ne Akatakyie, one might think it’s a cluster of pebbles, but look again and this is cast into doubt. The work is made from thousands of Ghanaian pesewa coins to create vivid shapes, in a unique variation of colours and a suggestion that each shape translates to a warrior. 

‘Gele’ by Arinze Stanley

Hyper-realism is the core of Arinze Stanley’s work, presented at Art X Lagos 2023 by Alexis gallery. Stanley exhibited works under the title ‘Gele’, which celebrates the essence of the eponymous head tie in Nigerian culture, but also the versatility of it, the art of it and its unending mystery. 

Echo, Way Back, and Twin Face Reminisce by Chidi Kwubiri 

Staying close to the work of Chidi Kwubiri feels like understanding the mystery of gestural abstraction; only a step backward would come as shocking. The artist presented Echo, Way Back and Twin Face Reminisce, all filled with emotion and colour. 

‘Where is Chichi’ by Uthman Wahaab

Uthman Wahaab’s Where is Chichi questions the convention of feminine beauty and explores the liberty of embracing the self; but what makes this a mesmerising body of work is the different experiences the project offers. It’s very interactive and tells the story of ‘where Chichi’ really is, from a hotel bar to a beach lounge to scuba diving. 

The Hands that Remain by Papa Omotayo and Max Kalaiwo

Papa Omotayo and Max Kalaiwo's installation titled The Hands that Remain takes us back to the 1980s, into the home of a doctor. The installation features family portraits on a dresser table, a set of old patterned cushions, a centre table with a bowl of kolanut, a bookshelf in the corner and paintings that illustrate the bustle of a city. On one side, drawing papers of hand illustrations from school children shroud the wall. The exhibition explains what it’s like to remain after the mass migration of Nigerian doctors to the US and UK in the 1980s and 1990s. 

artxlagos.com

'It was important, especially in Lagos, to have an exhibition in a house because growing up here, we didn’t have a museum or gallery culture, so the way in which we saw art was in the homes of other people,' explains Faridah Folawiyo. 

She is the founder and creative director of FF Projects, whose latest show, "Image Impressions", just opened, is a group exhibition featuring the work of twelve artists at the Vaughan-Richards house, the family home of the late tropical modernist architect Alan Vaughan-Richards that is now home to his film-maker daughter Remi Vaughan-Richards.

Folawiyo has become a noted voice in the contemporary African art landscape and whilst she eschews the title of gallerist ('I always wanted to be a curator and writer foremost') she acknowledges her equally pivotal role as an amplifier of an ecosystem abundant in talent both locally and in the wider African Diaspora.

'My general way of working is thinking about black art and black hands and the connections I can make between black artists and collectors.' She has become best known as a champion of early career artists with a particular passion for centering female voices: 'I want to be able to be that conduit. I am friends with a lot of the artists, and it is an incredible community that I can relate to on a generational level but also see the growth in their work.'

The exhibition posits studio photography and paintings side by side, with Folawiyo inviting viewers to consider the role that both play as co-creators in contemporary African art. She elucidates: 'Photographs have done so much for us. Both in terms of shaping our visual identity shaping our visual culture, and specifically the studio photograph. So I wanted to celebrate that, I wanted to think about photography on a par with painting, explore the relationship between the two and show how they constantly feed each other. There is a symbiotic relationship between both mediums particularly in Nigeria and the rest of the continent.'

Artists on show include historical greats such as J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere alongside contemporary voices such as Chinaza Agbor, Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Helena Foster, Ekene Emeka-Maduka, Logo Olumuyiwa and Lakin Ogunbanwo.

The Vaughan-Richards House hosts Image Impressions

The Vaughan-Richards House acts as both setting and edificial interlocutor, as the show is installed in ‘The Dome’, a geodesic dome that Alan designed and built a little later than the main house. Remi explains: 'For me, hosting the exhibition is a venture into the unknown, I wanted to see how it would feel to actually open up the house.'

But as she explains, there is added poignancy: 'My father is an unsung hero. He was the most experimental of the tropical modernist architects really, and this house is an example of that – combining indigenous aesthetics with the tropical modernist principles. Recently, I saw some photographs of an exhibition he had here, many years, ago, he died in 1989, so somehow I am fulfilling my Dad’s legacy.'

Folawiyo designed the show space with the intention that 'people be able to walk through the works and to encounter them almost sculpturally.' Of her decision to frame art in a domestic setting she adds, 'I am very interested in taking art to different contexts and seeing how the context impacts the art work.'

Folawiyo also cites cultural relativism as guiding her choice of exhibition space and this is pertinent given the cultural notions of the family compound and the role it plays in informing identity both on a micro and macro level. A sense of belonging begins in the home, and it is a concept that will not be lost on visitors.

As Lagos continues to buzz in the midst of a creative season that will culminate in Art X Lagos in the first week of November, Folawiyo is already looking ahead to new dynamic interventions for her and her team at FF Projects to realise. 

'I think one of the really important parts of a show is giving the audience autonomy and a sense of authorship in the work. Giving them a sense, they are a part of the work, giving them the freedom to roam and meander and they can choose how they fit into the work as well.' It is a statement that could just as easily be uttered by an artist, curator or an architect and in Image Impressions we have a show that dares to segue the three.

Image Impressions is on view at the Vaughan-Richards House until 5 November 2023

For information, contact  hello@ff-projects.com

In what would be regarded as the fair’s fourth edition, Design Week Lagos 2023 held its four-day event (19-22 October 2023) at the Livespot Entertarium in the middle of Lekki. If there were two words to describe this year’s fair, it would be ‘innovative showstopper’. The event was themed  ’African design, the future’ and curated by Nigerian architect and designer Charles O Job. 

The event connected design creatives and enthusiasts, but witnessing the breadth of new innovations that had happened this year was a breath of fresh air. Individual inspirations made a shift this year, they were unusual and rare; it felt like every designer wanted to take the risk to actualise newer versions of their creativity – and it worked. 

Highlights from Design Week Lagos 2023

Turmi Lamps by Zarah Yunusa at Munstone Studio 

Designer Zarah Yunusa exhibited her Turmi Lamps. Heavily inspired by culture, the lamps take the design interpretation of ‘turmi da tabarya’, meaning mortar and pestle in Yunusa’s tribal language. ‘I created the Turmi Lamps in an effort to bridge the gap between traditionalism and universal relatability,’ she said. ‘The simplicity of the lamp patterns symbolises that they can be categorized as modern.’ The V-shaped lamps were made in lean ropes from cotton yarns, with a pattern synonymous with clothes worn by the Fulani tribe in Nigeria. Though very firm, the feel of it seems so soft, like threads in a wool-wrap handwoven simultaneously.

Yabasi Lamp by Josh Egesi at Ike Studios

Biomorphism inspired a few of the designs exhibited this year; one of them was the Yabasi Lam which reimagined the conceptual action of sprouting (’yabasi’ being the Igbo word for onion). Designer Josh Egesi has always looked into his culture to explore themes and concepts which weren't clear to his younger self. The sprouting of onions seemed to be his newly-found interest and to unravel that curiosity through design, he took a bold step in creating a 34x7 cm lamp made from glass, wood and metal materials in a variety of colours.

 Design Week Lagos Panel Talks

One of the biggest highlights of Design Week Lagos 2023 was the panel talks (as a matter of fact, there would be no Design Week Lagos without them). Attended by the industry’s finest – among them scholars, students, and enthusiasts – the talks this year ushered in refreshing perspectives, from major conversations about local markets, manufacturing, and business analysis to one of the most intriguing conversations to surface in 2023, AI. Alongside, architect Tosin Oshinowo delivered a lecture titled “An Alternative Urbanism” that spotlighted new ventures to development and innovations, especially within countries in the global south. 

“Culture piece", "Pompell" and "Ocean piece” by Iris Skafos

For a design studio that began in 2022, Iris Skafos seems to possess a design concept that is incredibly sensual in gaze. Their exhibition featured a set of three wooden coffee tables titled ’Culture Piece’, ‘Pompell’ and ’Ocean Piece’. The designs were dedicated to their new-found obsessions with bodies of water and the enriched nature of their ‘African-ness’". Made from cedar wood, metal, fabrics and epoxy resin, the coffee table possessed wide dimensions with a well-detailed graphic slab, colourful composition and contemporary craftsmanship.

Wearables by Belonwus, presented by Sporting Lagos

Design meets sport, meet fashion – a must-see installation at  Design Week Lagos was a project by Belownus for Sporting Lagos which featured several football wearables. Sporting Lagos had wanted to create something that could be relatable to viewers, so they thought of recreating what they know best, working around a football and how it could be melded with design. ’We wanted to build a thriving community around the beloved sport of football – something cherished by countless individuals. Viewing football as more than a game is very much the path that converges our trajectories, bridging differences seamlessly,' they said. 

VR and photo experience by Slickcity 

Tech was also present at this year’s event, and who else was a better fit to offer that experience other than content creators’ studio Slickcity? Late last year, the artist Malik Afegbua went viral for his tech-generated art, featuring older Black models on the fashion runway wearing indigenous Nigerian outfits. Gaining more than a million views, the art caught the attention of CNN, BBC, and many other media platforms. At Design Week Lagos 2023, Afegbua with Slickcity exhibited several of these artworks, only this time it was different – viewers could scan a code where they get to experience the portraits exhibited in motion. Games and documentaries on design, art and textiles were also exhibited, offering viewers a VR experience. 

Precise x Alneli x Bellamai

The Precise x Alneli x Bellamai design collaboration was a dazzling installation. It came as a surprise to see a lightning company (Precise), a bathtub company (Alneli) and a luxury furniture company (Bellamai Design) create such a perfect synergy with minimal effort. The installation reproduced a typical luxury Nigerian bedroom, with an oversized bed wrapped in a flowing duvet, an adjacent bathtub, a meeting chamber, and neutral-coloured sofas, both long and small and decorated with fancy throw pillows. The lighting arrangements were L-shaped; creating an indulging silhouette at one corner. 

Spazio Ideale gravity-defying installation

A gravity-defying installation was never in anyone’s mind at the design week Lagos but it was brought to visitors by Spazio Ideale, an interior design studio that also exhibited most of its latest untitled furniture pieces. The installation was visited by several celebrities and creatives and added to Design Week Lagos' interactive approach. 

On first sighting Nigeria and Switzerland might not appear as natural design bedfellows, but the ‘Lagos Light Series’ developed by Lagos’ 16/16 – a boutique hotel that doubles up as a design-focused space that acts as an incubator for innovation – and Hot Wire Extensions, an interdisciplinary design studio based in Zurich, is illustrative of how sustainability and the global realities of the climate emergency can bring together cross-continental collaboration and result in the creation of collectable pieces.

Sparked! The Lagos Light Series

‘I have always been interested in disruptive approaches in industrial manufacturing and sought to propose alternative systems of production through my practice,’ notes Fabio Hendry, founder of Hot Wire Extensions. His pioneering research in materials led to him creating a proprietary process repurposing waste nylon powder from SLS 3D printing, a material currently not recycled, and responsibly sourced sand.

For 16/16 founder Tushar Hathiramani, notions of materialism, waste and conscious production were at the forefront of his mind. 'I was developing the strategy for a maker-space project with materials specialist Seetal Solanki of Ma-tt-er. The connection to Fabio Hendry and Hot Wire Extensions – part of Seetal’s vast network of materials designers – was made shortly thereafter.'

Hendry came to Lagos and together with Hathiramani set about exploring the potentialities of polyethylene, a ubiquitous material in the city given its use for water sachets, refuse sacks and a host of other plastic products. 

Hathiramani was especially interested in creating a dynamic yet practical intervention and is quick to note that 'recycling and reuse happen very organically over here, and it is linked to the relationship we have with our environment – large population, small land mass, limited space and resources.'

For Hendry, the new location offered an opportunity to experiment further with his design methodology. 'The Hot Wire Extensions process can be used to create pieces to any specification, and I love how the lights blur the boundaries between craft and industry,’ he says. Thus, the series of lights available in two sizes was born. With sculptural organic forms that are reminiscent of vines growing around a tree, it is easy to forget they are made of plastic. 

Geographic and intentional context are illustrated further in the colour palette of the lights themselves. Danfo yellow is the colour of local buses, green represents Nigeria and the more neutral earth tone is a gentle reminder of the fragility of the planet and our need to take action, one purposefully designed product at a time.

Launching the Lagos Light Series at Sparked!, an exhibition that coincides with Design Week Lagos 2023, the pair are already thinking of both extending the series and expanding their urban factory based in the heart of Lagos Island. 

‘Fabio and I are building out a 2-year design incubator program that will see a number of other material specialists come to set up shop in the maker space,’ Hathirathmani shares. ‘We are building out the capacity to work across plastic, wood, fermentation, clay and organic dyeing.’

The infinite possibilities speak to how sustainable design can no longer be seen as an add-on but is now essential to how we produce and consume. As Hathiramani notes, ‘I am interested in the maker-space being part of that global conversation while still trying to embed it in the unique challenges that we face in the city of Lagos. The sky – or rather the landfill – is the limit.’

'Spark!' Is on view 19th-22nd October 2023

16by16
16 Kofo Abayomi St
Lagos
Nigeria

16by16.co
hotwireextensions.com

CmDesign Atelier founder, Tosin Oshinowo, is a multitasking powerhouse – and as she starts listing her recent creative exploits, it is clear that the Lagos-based architect has been busy. ‘I am an architect first, though I am involved in other aspects of the creative industry,’ she explains. ‘I head up an architecture studio, which employs ten architects, designers and project managers. I have a furniture line called Ilé-Ilà, for which we design and produce contemporary pieces using Indigenous fabrics. I sit on the board for the Lagos Theatre Festival and co-curated the 2019 Lagos Biennial, themed ‘How to build a lagoon with just a bottle of wine?’ And I am currently curating the 2023 Sharjah Architecture Triennial, titled ‘The beauty of impermanence: an architecture of adaptability’. 

West African studios: cmDesign Atelier

Educated in the UK, Oshinowo feels her work is ‘grounded in a deep respect for my native Yoruba culture, with a desire to celebrate the history, knowledge and traditions of my context in West Africa,’ she says. Fusing modernism with the African context has been a life-long project for her. This has resulted in work that she describes as ‘afro-minimalist’, celebrating West African design and culture, and supporting and promoting the region’s rich traditions. It is exactly this approach that becomes the thread that runs through all her seemingly disparate projects, uniting them all under a single creative force. 

‘Whether I am curating the Triennial and shedding light on other practices from the region, building new housing for a community displaced by Boko Haram with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in north-east Nigeria, or designing beach houses and furniture – everything I do is to celebrate the people, culture, talent and traditions of my region,’ she says. ‘I aim to demonstrate to the world that we are an overlooked significant potential, with solutions, practices and ideas that are missing from the global conversation as a vanguard of the field.’

Her design portfolio spans from lush residences, to an upcoming retail interior for Adidas, and a recently completed project for the UNDP in Borno, Nigeria, which involved the master plan and design of a new town settlement for a displaced community. Oshinowo’s portfolio is nothing if not diverse. She picks the Lexus International commission for Design Miami 2020 as a defining moment in her career. ‘[It] amplified my international profile and allowed me to explore and showcase my skills and interests in culturally relevant and contextual design,  which my practice has become known for,’ she says.  

This variety and cross-pollination between disciplines, scales and contexts feels crucial for Oshinowo. ‘After all, architecture doesn’t exist in a vacuum,’ she adds, while stressing the potential architecture has when it comes to working with its surroundings. ‘I believe there is a need for architecture to produce more contextually relevant buildings that draw inspiration from their locality, but also adapt to work in harmony with the environment and climate. Air conditioning is the single most deviating invention to the contextual development of design in my location. Considering our challenges with climate change, we need to re-think our response to how we make our buildings habitable.’ 

West African studios: the series

From Senegal to Nigeria, and from Niger to the Ivory Coast, West Africa is vast and brimming with potential. A powerful mix of peoples and cultures, and in some nations, exponential demographic and economic growth, makes this part of the world a locus of change. The result? A dynamic new generation of studios that operate in the architecture realm and push the boundaries of their field to a promising future. Architects, spatial designers and builders converge here to create a unique, rich melting pot of fresh thinking and innovation that will no doubt reshape the way we think about architecture globally.

cmdesign-atelier.com

A version of this story appears in January 2023 Wallpaper*, The Future Issue, available now in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

HTL Africa is an ‘idea factory’ according to its founder James George, who established the architecture practice in 2011. ‘I like to look at it as a group of people who collaborate to make working megacities,’ George says of the firm’s team of 11. ‘I collaborate a lot with external actors – model makers, sometimes artists.’

At the heart of the practice is a focus on performance, which George feels is often lacking in the field. ‘Globally in architecture, there’s no understanding that buildings are objects of performance. I think beauty is not important in the sense that we make it important. Architecture must engage with the environment in a way that enhances the environment, and in a way that creates the opportunity for people to have equality and change.’

West African studios: HTL

George trained at Ahmadu Bello University in the northern Nigerian state of Zaria – an institution he says ‘gave him the independence to learn on his own terms’. His breakthrough project was the 32,000 sq ft Green Wall scheme, named for its planted balconies, which he completed in 2017. According to the architect, the multistorey office block in Onikan, a neighbourhood in downtown Lagos, provided a lesson in how to build effectively in small spaces. 

George is excited about a current project, Amity Compact House, which he describes as the apogee of his studio’s design vision of how to create space on a small footprint. ‘We think that surfaces of buildings should be able to absorb as much air as possible without the need for windows, because windows are a vestige of antiquity that I don’t really have to use. There are barely any windows on the house. Most of the façade is a permeable breeze block,’ he says. 

The architect has a profound appreciation for the steel frame, which he says allows for greater freedom to shape space in new ways. ‘Moreover, we like to make architecture as light as possible and we also like to make architecture in a way that it can be made as quickly as possible, so the steel frame is very important for us.’

Additional projects in the pipeline include a 120-apartment complex in Lagos, near a soon-to-be-complete oil refinery, built by Africa’s wealthiest man. George also mentions a 4,000-seater event space in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, a medium-sized mall in Lagos’ city centre, and two cultural institutions in Ghana, one being the Pan African Heritage Museum.

The designer expresses his passion for exploring how architecture can change the built environment to improve lives. A book, Performativeness, which is in the works, will look at what he describes as performative structures, such as granaries, wind towers and traditional Hausa homes. ‘[They] have a certain character that can change all the negative impacts of global warming,’ he explains. 

The architect has set up a small office in Dubai, which will serve as a launch pad for international commissions. ‘Dubai is more of an office of proliferation, as against Nigeria being an office for innovation,’ he says. ‘We’re a very ambitious group. We're trying to create architecture around the world.’ 

West African studios: the series

From Senegal to Nigeria, and from Niger to the Ivory Coast, West Africa is vast and brimming with potential. A powerful mix of peoples and cultures, and in some nations, exponential demographic and economic growth, makes this part of the world a locus of change. The result? A dynamic new generation of studios that operate in the architecture realm and push the boundaries of their field to a promising future. Architects, spatial designers and builders converge here to create a unique, rich melting pot of fresh thinking and innovation that will no doubt reshape the way we think about architecture globally.

Our series on West African studios – architects, spatial designers and builders – continues on Wallpaper.com and is featured in January 2023 Wallpaper*. Also showcased so far are Nigeria’s Studio Contra and Senegal’s Worofila.

htlafrica.com

A version of this story appears in January 2023 Wallpaper*, The Future Issue, available now in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

The first thing Nifemi Marcus-Bello does when we get on a call is to quintessentially thank his optimism. ‘I believe it’s what has gotten me to where I’m at now as a designer,’ he says humbly. But he is most intrigued at how he has managed to insert himself as one of the brightest and most outstanding in a design ecosystem where several designers possess the same optimism and have a very unique vision for their individual design oeuvres. 

Renowned for his out-of-the-box designs, the designer and creative director of NMbello studio is perfectly shaping the future of Africa’s designscape, upholding collaborations  and crafting innovative designs that are embellished in historical perspectives; whether following the shape-trajectory of an old Nigerian artefact or a pre-colonial design concept, he interweaves them with the contemporary, creating conceptual products that possess tremendous artistic value and functionality. 

Nifemi Marcus-Bello: curiosity and collaboration

For a designer like Marcus-Bello, his curiosity supersedes him. ‘In my career as a designer, I feel like where I am right now, I have a lot more questions than answers. Questions on design practices, design education, on how to design a product,’ he tells Wallpaper*.

Growing up, Marcus-Bello always had a keen interest in the art of creating. At the age of 13, he worked as an apprentice at a welding shop, where he recalls making a floating bath for his mother, the first thing he made. His curiosity urged him to aim higher and he went on to study for a Bachelor's degree in industrial and product design at the University of Leeds, UK, then a master’s.

After university, Marcus-Bello worked at various firms, designing medical devices and furniture. He was keen to set up a place he could think and create the future, and NMbello Studio came to be in 2017. ‘I started the studio to feed the curiosity I had basically of creating objects and products that I believe could feed from production and manufacturing that was available across the continent,’ he says. ‘I also wanted to figure out what it meant to design in Africa in a contemporary way.’

He has since become known for gritty, sculptural furniture. One of his most spectacular pieces is the ‘LM’ stool – a vibrant, geometric design that appears simple yet has a complex sensibility, and is multifunctional.

Telling the story of the stool’s creation, Marcus-Bello recalls, ‘The birth of this stool was basically me knocking on factory doors, and seeing if anybody was willing to collaborate with a designer. I was able to find a generator case manufacturer who agreed I could design around their manufacturing and assembling line, at the same time creating these objects and forms,’ he says, describing his desire to push the boundaries of design while working within the possibilities of existing local production. ‘[The stool is] dear to my heart because it’s one of the early success stories to come out of the studio. Currently, we independently produce and distribute.’

Like most designers of his calibre, he is an adept lover of collaboration. The ‘LM’ stool only counts as one, others include the Waf kiosk (a bamboo structure for the Nigerian skateboard brand) and ‘For the community by the community’ portable hand washing station, which won a Wallpaper* Design Award as Life-Enhancer of the year in 2021.

Currently, Marcus-Bellow is collaborating with a photographer for a work-in-progress research project called Logo, which revolves around archiving and documenting several portraits of design products from a photojournalistic point of view. 'A lot of people were talking about design and distribution not existing in contemporary Africa and then I realised there were a lot of anonymous works across major cities in Africa. I thought it was necessary to document these products because these are contextually important,' he says.

Being a designer in arguably the biggest art and cultural city in the continent is exhausting for Marcus-Bello. But he’s learnt to seek solace in his studio, which has become his biggest escape from the bustle of Lagos. However, he is used to the chaos in this part of the world and he’s most especially not letting the numerous challenges he faces define his work.

When asked about his big plans for the future, Nifemi Marcus-Bello tells Wallpaper* that he is very intentional about his curiosity: 'I can only say to stay curious and keep asking questions, that is my plans for the future,' he says

nmbello.com

A version of this story appears in January 2023 Wallpaper*, The Future Issue, available now in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Olayinka Dosekun-Adjei and Jeffrey Adjei were motivated to establish the Nigerian Studio Contra, their joint practice, in 2016, inspired by a mutual desire to create innovative architecture for African cities. The married couple first met as employees at Sheppard Robson, one of the UK’s most established architecture firms. Dosekun-Adjei, who was raised in Nigeria, and Adjei, a Ghanaian, decided to set up their own studio in Lagos. Drawn to its energy and commercial dynamism, they saw the city as the perfect platform to effect social change and express cultural ideas through design.

Today, the 15-member architecture, interior and urban design practice – part of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2022 – is in the process of executing a spate of cultural commissions in Kwara, a state in the western region of Nigeria. These include the Ilorin Museum and Garden scheme – a modern update of the old and dilapidated Kwara Museum of Ilorin. The new 35,000 sq ft space will house classical Nigerian sculptures, while the derelict colonial building is to be redeveloped into a café and gift shop.

West African studios: Studio Contra 

Meanwhile, a 24,000 sq ft Institute of Contemporary African Art & Film in Kwara is in the works, with completion expected in early 2023. A third project in the region – Sugar Factory Film Studios – will see a decades-old disused sugar factory repurposed into film studios. This scheme exemplifies their approach to adaptive reuse – an attractive proposition for the architects considering its lower carbon approach to building.

‘We’re taking something that’s been undervalued, and we’re adding value to it. We're transforming it and offering it back to the city. I think it's a more sustainable approach,’ Dosekun-Adjei says.

An additional renovation project in Lagos – a city filled with underutilised building stock, according to the pair – involves the redesign of the 9,500 sq ft Centre of Contemporary Art from façade to interior.

The architects are particularly passionate about cultural projects due to the impact they leave on society and the cities they occupy. However, Adjei explains that these commissions, often government-funded, can be challenging to navigate for fledgling firms.

‘It's a very long, drawn-out process, so you can easily bankrupt your company if you want to stay within that sector alone. We find that we have to take on a variety of residential projects to keep us going and cover our overheads,’ Adjei explains.

Private houses, such as the Quartey Residence in Accra, are being constructed with locally produced half-fired clay bricks – a process less energy intensive than the use of commonly used concrete. Such projects have inspired the partners to hire an architect to specifically investigate domestic building materials and craftsmanship that can be incorporated into their schemes.

Although the architects say that they are yet to develop a distinct design language, their work explores ways of synthesising the demands of the contemporary setting and expressions of modernity with a sense of their traditional African culture and history. The arched motifs in their design of the Institute of Contemporary African Art & Film is evidence of this, referencing Islamic building traditions that are typical in central and northern Nigeria. Dosekun-Adjei says that this speaks to their search for a language for contemporary African architecture ‘that sits comfortably in the present, but also has roots in the past’.

West African studios: the series

From Senegal to Nigeria, and from Niger to the Ivory Coast, West Africa is vast and brimming with potential. A powerful mix of peoples and cultures, and in some nations, exponential demographic and economic growth, makes this part of the world a locus of change. The result? A dynamic new generation of studios that operate in the architecture realm and push the boundaries of their field to a promising future. Architects, spatial designers and builders converge here to create a unique, rich melting pot of fresh thinking and innovation that will no doubt reshape the way we think about architecture globally. 

Our series on West African studios continues on Wallpaper.com in the coming days and is featured in January 2023 Wallpaper*.

studio-contra.com

A version of this story appears in January 2023 Wallpaper*, The Future Issue, available now in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

The Lagos lagoon’s special topography means that a series of idyllic beaches and tropical stretches of leafy coast are just a stone’s throw from the bustle of the Nigerian metropolis. It is here, among the sandy, palm tree-lined open expanses that architect Tosin Oshinowo was called upon to create a minimalist seaside pavilion. The project, a private space for entertaining and relaxation, was named the Coral Pavilion, referencing the site's proximity to the water, and the special land it is built on. 

Designed by Oshinowo and her Lagos architecture studio cmDesign Atelier – featured in the 2021 Wallpaper* Architects Directory – the project sits on a slim strip of a peninsula outside central Lagos that is not accessible by road, and marks a stark contrast to the city with its busy life and fast pace. ‘It is not quite a beach house,’ Oshinowo explains. ‘It’s a pavilion, a space for socialising, not sleeping; the clients always return to their main home in Lagos at night. Everything is focused around the view.'

Following her work’s signature explorations in modernist and minimalist architecture, Oshinowo created the pavilion’s form using low, clean lines and a prevailing white hue that contrasts pleasingly with the greenery around it. This uncluttered approach is enriched by green-coloured elements that make various features pop – such as the painted bar patterns, which are inspired by those used by Nigeria’s Kanuri people, and the bespoke pigmented concrete dining table legs. Furniture made in the country’s east adds more local design roots to the project. 

Open to the elements, yet protected from the sun and rain by its roof and pronounced overhang, this seaside pavilion makes the most of its al fresco nature. ‘In this part of Nigeria, we have this very consistent north-south wind, which means there’s a constant breeze all day on site, helping the temperature remain cool. We have tried to emphasise and make the most of it through the structure’s openings and overall arrangement,’ says Oshinowo.

INFORMATION

cmdesign-atelier.com