10 Questions With… Charles O. Job

When describing contemporary visionaries in the Nigerian architecture and design space, the name Charles O. Job is boldly called. For three decades, the Lagos-born, Zurich-based designer and architect has created projects that continue to define the zeitgeist of times while being functional, mechanical, and fluid.

His principle basks in interpreting and conceptualizing objects, or nature, and broadly reinventing these into a product that takes no finite shape of the original. One example is his cross-shaped, pocketed bookshelf named bukan, which he admits was inspired by kangaroos.

He has an enigmatic love for design and it does pays off, with several awards to his name over the past 30 years; he relives this excitement by showing me diaries of his latest sketches as we speak. With much enthusiasm, he shows me the product he had made for his daughter for Christmas—a wall mounted worktop called Flip. She had sent him a text appreciating his work and you can imagine the sweet-spirit as he read them out. “It’s an idea you have,” he says. “And then somehow, somebody produces it, and then suddenly it makes somebody else happy.”

The designer sat down with Interior Design, sharing insights into his journey with architecture and design, moving to Zurich, and maintaining work-life balance.

Charles O. Job Talks Design, and More 

Interior Design: You have a unique design approach that is a reinterpretation of life itself; you see a mundane object and try to remake it in a very unconventional way, like a hat. 

Charles O, Job: The hat is a funny story. There’s a famous British actor called Crisp, and there was a famous song about him by Sting called Englishman in New York. There was an article about him in the newspaper, and I was reading this article, and I kept looking at this hat. The hat was quite interesting. It was a very traditional bowler hat. Something came up in my head to make this hat into something else. I don’t know where it came from. And I drew the hat and then I turned it into what it is, basically, this thing which looks three dimensional, [yet is] only one dimension. That came from reading an article in the newspaper. Most of the things I do come from looking at something and imagining it to be something else in a playful and functional way.

ID: Describe your journey as a designer and architect?

CJ: I studied architecture in England. During my studies, I realized that I actually liked designing because I had so many ideas. I wasn’t into building, I was into designing. After I graduated, I went to live in Paris for a year. I took part in some competitions and won a few. But winning this competition made me realize that designing was not just fun; it seemed to be something I was good at doing. So I did more and more of it, and gradually it grew from being a hobby to being part of my profession. The journey was totally unplanned, it just happened.

ID: Would you say architecture fueled your passion for product design?

CJ: Yes. I think the good thing is when you study architecture, you learn about spaces, you learn about structure, you learn about interiors, you learn about exteriors, so it’s a good education to be creative. A lot of my friends and I are not doing architecture. They’re doing other things. But I did give architecture a chance. When I was in England, I was already working in offices, architectural offices. I actually came here to work for a famous architect called Calatrava, and he does amazing structural buildings. I was working for him and for other architects, but I never enjoyed architecture. No. Because it’s always too big and there’s too many people involved. It takes five years to get it built. I didn’t have the patience for it.

ID: Living between Europe and Africa, how would you describe the architectural and creative scape between both continents?

CJ: Switzerland is a very special country because they don’t have any resources; they don’t have any oil, they don’t have anything, so they’re very good at making the most of what they have. A fantastic quality. They’re very good in detail. They work on small scale detail. So I like that. Somehow that reminded me of my youth when I was in Nigeria. [Creating] things by myself. So that’s one link I can make. Otherwise, it’s just so completely different; they are so different. But I think this difference is a good impulse because obviously you stand out because everybody looks different and also you think differently. Merging the two together is to merge their love for detail and our love for experimentation together. That’s, for me, what I’ve benefited from.

ID: What inspired the concept of your product Bukan?

CJ: Well, Bukan is very strange, actually. I was looking through a book and I saw a kangaroo, which likes carrying its baby in its pocket, and I thought: This is a nice idea, something like a mother carrying its baby. This idea of a baby turned into this. Don’t ask me how [it] turned into this cross. It’s just the idea of a pocket. So I thought of a pocket, and then it turned into four pockets and it turned into a cross because of the possibilities of actually putting things inside it. It came after lots of drawings, the idea of a kangaroo carrying a baby in their pocket.

ID: How did you start your design firm?

CJ: Everything is more or less by accident. I mean at first, I left Nigeria. I lived in Scotland, then I lived in Paris, then I found myself in Zurich. Everything I do is never planned. So basically, not doing architecture wasn’t planned. Doing design wasn’t planned because I’m so flexible. I adapt to new situations and tried designing. Many years, I was winning competitions. At the beginning, I was winning nothing. I used to have a diary, and I used to ask: When am I going to win a competition? And then I found a producer. Then [I asked]: When am I going to get something produced? It’s always questioning, questioning, questioning. At the beginning, it was quite tough because nobody knows you. I was spending all my money on products. I was so convinced I was doing the right thing. So I’d design, I’d make a prototype, photograph it, then try and get it published in a magazine. For me, designing was just one part, making it visible was the other part. I was investing money in making beautiful prototypes and then paying somebody, a professional photographer, to take a picture. All that is very important, like selling an idea is very important. I invested a lot of money in selling the idea, and I think that helps a lot. But then you have to show it. People have to know that it’s there, and if they don’t know it’s there, then they never know and decided to begin the firm.

ID: What do you love most about design, what makes you so happy to do it?

CJ: I think it’s the challenge of doing something in my studio and then maybe a year later somebody can buy it in a shop. It’s just the idea of actually having an idea, which is very private. You art-board model, then you make a prototype, and then you find somebody to produce it and they put it in a shop and then somebody can buy it. I mean, every time I see my product in a shop, I’m blown away because I think: Wow, somebody’s actually picked it. I’m very proud.

ID: What does your typical day in the studio look like, how do you go through the imperfections of creating an object? 

CJ: Well, my day [begins] with deep sketching. Like this diary; I have thousands of them. And I constantly draw.

When I think [an idea] is not good, I draw and I draw. Then when I think it’s good, I make a cardboard model, one to one, and I look at it for weeks and think about it and redesign it. It’s very organic. Sometimes [the process] goes very slowly or very fast. But I do two or three things at once. It helps me assimilate both works. If I get stuck on this one, I go to the next one.

12 Product Picks From Maison&Objet’s January 2024 Show

More than 65,000 visitors braved the cold and flocked to the Maison&Objet exhibition at the Paris Nord Villepinte exhibition park, which took place from January 18-22, 2024. Here are our top picks for the best and the brightest from this year’s trade show.

Elements Collection Side Table, Coffee Table, and Console in Off-White by Ethnicraft

Simple, softened shapes get organic, stone-like texture from microcement, each piece hand-finished and unique. The off-white finish of the round and rectangular coffee tables, mushroom-shaped side tables, and console goes beyond being visually appealing—it’s also easy to clean.

Fermob

Lilacs and herby greens were a strong presence this year, bringing freshness to fabrics and furniture alike. At Fermob, the shades appeared in the new colors Marshmallow and Pesto—the former a grown-up version of childhood sweets, the latter a nod to sunny days spent outside.

Stool O1 by Magic Circus Éditions

This simple stool can go practically anywhere, from a perch in front of your boudoir table to a seating option in a co-working space. And with an array of shimmering fabrics from Elitis in seven designs and 36 colors, you’ll always be sitting pretty.

Chadophe Wall Lamp S and Chadophe Wall Lamp M by Patrick Paris for Serax

The soft glow produced inside the thick, solid, and concave concrete reflector pairs with the resulting dramatic shadow to make this lamp feel a part of the wall itself. (The name is a play on the word “shadow”.)

IO Lamp by Nelson Fossey / Index Office

Tacking a more sensitive approach to new technologies, Nelson Fossey wanted his 3D-printed suspension lamps to have a softness, and an open and more woven fabric-like appeal. The curves push the limit of the process, while an inner transparent shade produces an ethereal glow.

Stack by Studio MOTO thru Belgium is Design

A flexible system shown as part of the Belgium is Design group that clicks together without screws or other fasteners. Made from a set of 14 aluminum components that can be combined in nearly unlimited configurations: create shelves, cabinets, and even coffee tables. Available in raw aluminum and five colors.

Stools by Senimo

Fabien Colomines begins with ethically sourced materials to create his lacquered MDF stools, which are meticulously hand-made in small series. The repetition of curved shapes in solid, graded, or multi-color iterations are the perfect meeting of nature and craftsmanship.

URVI Rug from the Elements Collection by Pappelina

The URVI rug references the dynamic motion of ocean waves, captured in five energetic colors. There is a range of hues within each of them, thereby adding to the sense of constant change. Made from phthalate-free plastic strips for indoor-outdoor use.

Gardenia Tables by ibride

A series of tables by designer Florence Bourel in three heights and four colors, with perforated tops in the shape of the eponymous flower. The thin fins that make up the bodies are sexy and curvy while keeping everything light. Made from high-pressure laminate.

Pieces from the Greek, Classico, Dada, and Outdoor Collections by Mazharia

Based on the owners’ repeat trips to Morocco and inspired by its artisan workshops, this series of terra cotta vases is designed to bring traditional design into modern environments. The specific Majorelle blue pigment is drawn from the Marrakesh garden of the same name.

Aura Table by Songe Mobilier

High-quality marble from Brazil, with metallic veins and bursts of rich color, is fused with clear tempered glass to create an appealing dialogue between its two components. Each piece, designed by Clément Sinibaldi, is hand-made by Provençal artisans.

Lloyd Two-Seat Club Sofa With Fringes From the Glenn Sestig Collection by Giobagnara Studio

Ghent native Glenn Sestig is known for masterful construction, here shown in the Lloyd club sofa. The suede fringe skirt plays with traditional upholstery techniques while bringing a very modern edge to the seat, and its single cushion is both chic and less formal.

This New Table Collection Shows the Richness of Natural Stone

Architects and designers around the world turn to the Dutch stone purveyor SolidNature to realize custom projects. OMA requested a pink-onyx-clad elevator for Fondazione Prada in Milan; Sabine Marcelis created travertine-and-glass chairs. Yet as business has grown, so has its inventory of offcuts. The company asked Budde, a design studio in Cologne, Germany, to explore their potential. Founders Johannes Budde and Meike Papenfuss conceived Five x Seven: five tables (a console plus coffee and side tables) made from seven types of stone. For each piece, they combined slabs of marble, onyx, granite, and travertine, then carved a slim arch into all four sides. Layered together like sedimentary rock, the colorful stones form muted stripes of cream, pink, green, and gray, and look different from every angle. It’s a limited edition, but custom pieces are also available. Through Rossana Orlandi Gallery.

10 Questions With… Robert Remer of Opiary

Founding principal of Brooklyn-based studio Opiary, Robert Remer, views design through a unique lens. His award-winning concrete planters, luminaires, and settees all stem from the easily uttered yet rarely fully investigated proposition of reconciling humans and nature. As he says, biophilia, or more aptly termed bio-awareness, constitutes much more than just bringing greenery inside. It’s also about crafting objects that invoke our planet’s most fundamental principles; facilitating this process of reconnection is as much an explicitly aesthetic task as it is an implicitly emotional one.

A team of skilled craftspeople help the trained architect and emphatic multi-disciplinarian realize a distilled yet diverse suite of products—the Drillium chaise and modular Spolia planter system among them—based on direct orders. It’s an artisanal business model that provides Remer with the time and space to also imagine custom indoor/outdoor installations for a wide range of customers. Whether developing a stem-like floor lamp or a carefully-oriented walking path, the designer looks to champion the essential transcendence of geometry, evolution, and materiality.

Robert Remer on the Importance of Bio-Awareness, and More

Interior Design: What led you to study architecture?

Robert Remer: I have always had a foot in two worlds. Though I was raised in the rural spaces surrounding the city, I’ve also somehow been based in New York City. Playing outside in the dirt and in the woods was hugely impactful on me as a child. I spent a lot of unstructured time experiencing nature. But I also spent time in Greenwich Village, so I got to see the cultural aspects of 1980s New York City life—everything from the music scene and the rapid changes in the built environment. I have always loved knowing both worlds and mixing one with the other. It’s what inspired me to study architecture.

ID: How did training with Alice Aycock at Yale University inspire you to eventually transition into material experimentation, sculpture, and product development?

RR: Alice had a subtle way of fostering the exploration and interrogation of form and meaning.  She introduced me to her cohort of 1960s and 70s-era artists and architects who were all incredibly influential in my development, notably Walter De Maria, Robert Smithson, and Donald Judd. Each of these talents transcended the traditional disciplinary definitions of art, architecture, craft, and design.

ID: When did you begin exploring the idea of biophilia? How do you define this term and how is this definition integral to your practice?

RR: It’s common sense today to say ‘people love nature and are attached to it’ but we do so from our place of extreme distance. As our spaces and lives become more technologically advanced and civilized, we are losing the perspective that innate force is both the source of life and its ultimate sink. It’s reduced to something pleasant we visit on the weekend. I do not think there is a way of getting away from this thinking without going back to a more natural state, which requires us to take in the dialectical quality of the relationship. This fundamental principle is what my work is all about.

Opiary is more than biophilia and attempts to be a bio-aware design company. We aim to make work that allows people to actually connect with nature. The unofficial motto is ‘no more dead objects.’ Our time poses new questions about this interaction, and it can be mapped out and experienced in the pieces my team and I develop. I have always incorporated nature in my projects, whether for sculpture or architecture, largely because of the demands it makes on the viewer or owner. It’s not just a frozen symbol but rather, a system in which there is constant curation and attention to singular moments and particular conditions.   

ID: What is the story behind the establishment of Opiary? 

RR: Opiary was founded in 2012 as a platform that could encompass the production and dissemination of the forms I was already creating. The term Opiary derives from the Latin opus arium or a “place for work.” It has a double meaning as my nickname growing up was Opie and it signified the place you can always find me. 

ID: How has the studio evolved to encompass both products and projects over time?

RR:  My team and I have always focused on making custom work. It started with sculpture and has since evolved to encompass furniture, lighting, and architectural finishes. We also provide clients with design services on how to incorporate a creative green layer in their projects.

ID: What is the significance of having set up shop and developed your career in Brooklyn?

RR: Move to New York City and it will change your life if you can figure out how to dance with the rhythm of the place, and do it as soon as possible because it only gets more difficult. I say this to every young person who has even the slightest inclination to try living here. That said, spending time outside of the city developing your vision is vital. Experiencing both the urban and the rural seems to be a theme in my life. I spent a lot of time in a 1918 uninsulated beach cottage—basically a wooden tent—in the Cape Cod dunes very close to nature as a counterpoint to my life in the city. Having both environments is critical to my creative thinking.

ID: How has your process of casting concrete and other material been refined over time, resulting in planters, furnishings, and custom installations?

RR: Concrete has been my chosen medium ever since I started working. It’s ubiquitous and easy to get your hands on as a young talent. I loved how it can be used anywhere, and as someone who has always been interested in breaking down the barriers between indoors and out, it’s perfect. Over the years the studio has expanded and refined how we use this material, giving us a wide spectrum of expressions. We can get super high-end finishes on pieces and also know they will stand up to the elements relatively well.

ID: Looking at your product range, how is the process behind the Drillium design different than the Spolia system?

RR: At Opiary we think in terms of form first and content second. For example, if we need a chair, it’s a form that holds a seated body. It needs to incorporate ergonomics and material science. And then there are some rules for how we design. For instance, materials need to be used essentially. If you can make the same form in wood or metal more easily, don’t make it in concrete.  Also avoid all superfluous details. When the form takes shape, let it be for a function, such as to form a vessel wall, in constant contact with that which it retains, whether that be soil for plants or upholstery for cushioning. The Drillium was specifically inspired by bird bones, aircraft construction, and 1970s steel racing bicycles. 

Spolia also starts with a form, a block for a wall, stackable rectilinear planter, and the same rules apply. Keep content essential, minimal, effortless, and provide room for free expression within the boundaries. It started almost as a game, eventually condensing into furniture and architecture. The name and concept for Spolia was inspired by the human habit of recycling architectural elements from past civilizations. Its name is the Latin root of our word “spoils” (of war). In everything, there’s always a place to experience nature.

Anna Karlin Unveils a Shapely New Furniture and Lighting Collection

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Fernando Laposse Takes a Sustainable Approach to Furniture Design

Fernando Laposse Talks Sustainable Furniture Design

Interior Design: You’re known for your innovative use of humble natural materials such as corn husks and agave leaves. How did that begin?

Fernando Laposse: With the Central Saint Martins foundation course, a year in which I was able to try a bit of everything and really get my hands dirty in the workshops learning a lot of practical skills. We were encouraged to do a project using a material from our own country and I chose loofah. I got to understand the anatomy of the fibrous fruit, navigate its limitations, and “domesticate” it to the point where it could be worked into a piece of furniture. I developed a methodology—filleting it with a knife like a fish, then flattening it—that I still use.

ID: You presented your Conflict Avocados project, which uses waste skin and pits to make dyes, at this year’s World Around Summit. Tell us about it.

FL: The avocado trade in Mexico—the world’s largest exporter of the fruit, all of which comes from Michoacán—is impacting the country terribly in regard to violence, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity. The textile portraits in the Friedman Benda show, which were made with avocado-dyed cotton, are just a taste of what’s to come.

For the NGV Triennial, we’re currently making a 130-foot-long tapestry telling the story of a Michoacán village that stood up to illegal logging. I’ll also show the original version of Resting Place, a chaise covered in avocado-dyed cotton patches embroidered with guns and knives that com­memorates Homero Gómez González, an activist who was murdered for protecting the monarch butterfly’s forest habitat. I want my work to be more than just nice materials I can present at design fairs. I want it to have lasting impact.

10 Questions With… Furniture Artist Caleb Ferris

ID: What type of pieces do you make?

CF: Sculptural furniture and objects that are inspired by the fantasy of everyday life.

ID: What inspires you about the fantasy of everyday life?

CF: I’m inspired by objects and motifs that exist in the background of our lives. I have a growing reference library of objects that I pull from. My collection ranges from things like fishing lures and pasta to cartoons and Sci-Fi movies. There are so many genres of collections to explore that we don’t often associate with the design world. My hope is to broaden the perspective of where we find beauty.

ID: Why pasta—what’s the appeal?

CF: The answer is twofold. I found that when you first share your design with someone, their immediate response is to associate that object with something that already exists. It can be one of the most humbling and annoying experiences (heaven forbid your work is compared to another designer’s). I want to control this narrative and beat my audience to the punchline by being conspicuous about my sources of inspiration.

The second half to my answer is that I went to the grocery store frequently during the pandemic. I’m not sure if it was the lack of travel or stimuli at that time, but I had an ‘aha moment’ in the pasta aisle one day. I stood there and started examining all of the varieties and noticed how each type of pasta was engineered to serve a purpose and how sculptural they are. The rest is history.

ID: How do you fabricate your pieces and what are some of your favored materials?

CF: The majority of my work is carved wood. I fabricate using a combination of hand and digital carving depending on the scale of the project. I really like the collaboration between man and machine in these processes. I think it’s a good reflection of the lives we live today. However, in an act of rebellion, I started incorporating imperfect hand-made elements into my work as a way to reclaim the humanity of making a physical object. I accomplish this through spontaneous finishing, which showcases the materials and processes as part of the final piece.

ID: What was your breakout design?

CF: The Noodle Throne, which I debuted this summer during NYCxDesign.

ID: Dream design project?

CF: Somebody please call me when we start furnishing our homes on Mars.

ID: What does a typical day look like for you in the studio?

CF: I spend probably 85% of my time doing some form of sanding. When I’m not sanding, I like to make sketch models by hot gluing random things together or tying them together with wire and string. This is my favorite part. Once I have a concept that I like I digitize it and refine until it resembles a piece of usable furniture. 

ID: What’s one thing you can’t live without?

CF: Quality snacks are essential to the creative process. The seriousness of the snack is directly related to the scope of the project.

ID: Who is another designer’s work you admire?

CF: I admire the work of the artists who were part of the Dada movement. I particularly like [Marcel] Duchamp’s ready-made works. I resonate with the idea that a simple object can be completely transformed via the artist’s definition and context with little alteration to the object itself.

10 Top Picks From Dutch Design Week 2023

At this year’s Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, the Netherlands from October 21-29, 2023, collaborations and collectives took center stage. Working under the theme “Picture This,” the city-wide exhibition’s focus was on a hopeful future shaped by inventive design. Here are our top picks from the fair.

Highlights From Dutch Design Week 2023

Messmerizing

Welcoming visitors to the fair was an installation at Eindhoven Centraal railway station featuring items curated by Sandra Keja Planken and Job Keja. Forming a collection meant to spark joy with works across mediums ranging from graphic design to art to fashion, standouts were the oversized Aperture Monumenta, a lamp series by Stijn van Ardenne and Lucas Zito; designer Pepijn Fabius Clovis’ Practice piano gilded in colorful metal by decorative painter and restorer Josephine; and eye-popping plant sculptures by LYb.

Grietje Schepers at Home of Design Kazerne

Ellipt #007, a large-scale installation by Grietje Schepers displayed at Home of Design Kazerne, emits light, attracts the eye, and enhances the space’s acoustics due to its composition of felt industrially cut into 3D shapes.

Ilaria Cavaglià at DAE

At the Dutch Academy of Eindhoven (aka DAE) showing of recent graduates, Italian artist, designer, and engineer Ilaria Cavaglià’s chair made from discarded bubble wrap stood out from the crowd. Cast from the plastic packaging, the project was called The Popping Sound of Bubble Wrap.

Marleen van der Knaap at DAE

Another graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven, Marleen van der Knaap presented Reconstructed Visages, a collection of curtain panels woven from upcycled marketing posters using a laser cutter and hand loom.

Teun Zwets

The designer who frequently dabbles in leftover material presented a collection entitled Splitted, the unique forms and shapes dictated by the process of splitting tree trunks.

MAST

Set in a central square of the Strijp-S area, seating islands constructed of over 1,000 crates covered in recycled plastic by the multidisciplinary design studio from Amsterdam provided respite for fairgoers. The circular materials will be reused post-event.

Emma Lawrence of United Matters

The designer asks how we can mine unique materials from our most mundane objects with their reuse of metals reclaimed from end-of-life household appliances like ovens, washing machines, and microwaves and reused on this sculpted work. It was part of the showing of works by United Matters, a London-based collective of Central Saint Martins graduates.

Piet Hein Eek

Big pieces being another theme for the show, local anchor of the design community Piet Hein Eek presented an overscale, hand-assembled chandelier for VANMOKUM made from glass pipes fitted within brass rings.

The Visionary Lab

Eight fashion designers reworked vintage Vitra chairs with upcycled Levi’s denim waste, including this Eames Shell Chair reoutfitted by Norman Monsanto and Kelly Konings, for The Visionary Lab’s Icons Re/Outfitted show.

Kiki & Joost Studio

Partners in life and design, Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk explored color, freedom, and play throughout their many contributions to Dutch Design Week. Here, Joost’s Tinkered sculpture presented as both abstract and unpredictable.

8 Highlights from Design Week Lagos 2023

Nothing prepares anyone for Lagos, Nigeria in October: The heat, and traffic, are overwhelming yet the city offers moments to find ease. Design Week Lagos is one such event, offering visual therapy to its many viewers. The four-day event (held October 19-22) featured strong works from designers across the country, and beyond. Curated by Charles O. Job under the theme “Africa Design, The future,” this year’s show unwrapped a new wave of discussions, including talks by 35 industry thought leaders across Africa. Tosin Oshinowo delivered a lecture on alternative urbanism, Malik Afegbua moderated a panel on the intersection of AI and design, and O. Job took the audience on an innovative ride. Meanwhile, installations and exhibitions on display celebrated forward-looking, and sustainable designs, fueling passionate conversations among those on site.

Explore Highlights From Design Week Lagos 2023

“Ulo Oma” by Myles Igwe

Designer Myles Igwe knows how to take risks, at times creating seemingly impossible forms from mundane materials. At Design Week Lagos, the designer exhibited Ulo Oma, a chair that translates his undying love for culture and exploring local circularity. “The women selling grains at the market rely on empty tins instead of measuring cups, and I found it truly inspiring to see the longstanding tradition of resourcefulness in our local culture, where materials are ingeniously repurposed in various ways,” Igwe said. The design concept is bold, made from the flattening of used food tins, Ulo Oma takes the description of what a raw project really looks like, envisioning the necessity of sustainability in the design world.

“Amahle” by Zonna

Zonna’s tufted furnishings and accents served as a showstopper with their contrasting white and brown colors, detailing a snake-like construction. The collection titled Amahle included a rug, chair, and mirror, all tufted in soft cotton yarns and handcrafted by the designer. The inspiration comes from the designer’s fascination with abstract shapes which further inspired her experimentations with tufting techniques. The designs are minimalistic and soothing to whatever space they find themselves in.

Lagos Light Series by Hot Wire Extensions

After a month-long residency by the Hot Wire Extensions at the 16/16 space at Victoria Island, Lagos—supported by Switzerland-based Pro Helvetia—it felt natural for Fabio Hendry, the founder of Hot Wire Extensions, to make a project with his resident fellows: Godwin Musa and Linus Sammy. The project became “Lagos Light Series,” two handbag-shaped bulb lamps made from the mixture of sand and plastic.

B1 Bench by Temitope El-shabazz

Temitope El-shabazz thinks of his designs as art. He doesn’t want to define the functionality; he’s giving collectors the power to do so. The B1 bench seems to reflect this conscious decision, especially with its multi-functional appearance that offers possibilities as a sitting bench, a console, or a plant stand. Carefully perfected in varied colors with a size measurement of 60×24 cm, El-shabazz says: “I wanted to spark a conversation I knew existed. I was interested in creating something different from what was already known as normal.” Mission accomplished.

Variant Present Flat Face Furniture by Deoye Bammeke

Witnessing the work of an architect-turned-project designer and illustrator seems to be one of the unexpected highlights of Design Week Lagos. The Flat Face Furniture series features a set of furniture pieces that are similar in design but have varied functionality. Here, Deoye Bammeke seeks inspiration from his long-time mentor’s obsession with Italian furniture designers. He wanted to create contemporary furniture with the no nails woodworking technique, so he spent two years severing wood dimension and creating furniture that could be dismembered at ease complete with unique patterns and geometrical carvings. “I didn’t want them to be basic, the colors were already black—just leaving them that way, black and flat, wouldn’t be interesting,” he said.

Limpetia Orb Light, Sailors Mirror by Franuel Eco Furniture Studio

In the west wing of the exhibit room, a lamp hanging from the pitch-black wood board grabs viewers’ attention. Called the Limpetia Orb Light and designed by Frances Oboro of the Franuel Eco Furniture studio, the designer utilizes the biomimicry concept, creating a web-like lamp. “I had come across a bulb wrapped in cobwebs and why it didn’t make sense at first, I felt it was very important to make a design from that inspiration,” she said. The 51cm lamp is made from tiny strings of jute fiber, woven into a cobweb-like orb. But that’s not the only thing in exhibit, a nautical Sailors Mirror wrapped in jute fibers also is on display.

Vivano x Color Sense x Literior Nigeria Installation

The scent of paint first welcomed viewers at the Vivano x Color Sense x Literior Nigeria installation at Design Week Lagos. Then came the striking room design, shaped openly like a triangular pyramid with aesthetic lightning. The installation featured an illusion wall in multi-colors (Color Sense), a room space decorated with artificial plants (Vivano), a room filled with Literior Nigeria’s latest light collections.

Teal Culture Installation

A curated boutique manifested itself in the form of an installation by Teal Culture Nigeria, which doubles as a showroom for Teal Harmony Designs, a Lagos-based interior design studio. At Design Week Lagos, the mother company exhibited works by standout West African product designers and artists, including the recreated headpiece of an ile ife queen, which was perfectly crafted by the Cameroonian artist Djakou Kassi Nathalie, as well as the line patterned art of Saheed Olokun. Also featured was a design booth by Ekoro Ekanem and Folakemi Oloye.

‘No Flags,’ a Furniture Exhibit in New York, Invites Introspection

This spring, Verso filled its New York showroom with an array of common objects—cabinets, a desk, a console—that were far from ordinary. Their wavy edges, undulating doors, and candy colors of high-gloss lacquered MDF had a funhouse vibe that belied a serious intent: to start a conversation about the cultural implications of design. The site-specific exhibition, “No Flags,” also the collection name, was the brainchild of Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno, founders of Venetian studio Zaven. “We conceived it as a landscape of flags in the wind,” Cavarzan recalls. Usually symbols of nationalist identity, flags are here subverted to represent openness and possibility. “Design can be a tool to generate a critical discourse around notions of nation, identity, culture, and authenticity,” she adds. Encompassing furniture, rugs, and ceramic vases, the series is a positive vision of a new world. Through Verso.