I am reviewing Made by Design as promised. This review/rundown is timely because the 2nd season of Made by Design will be out later in the year. Made by Design is produced by and directed by Titi Ogufere on the landscape of the design industry in Nigeria.
Because there are quite several episodes- I will only be highlighting my top 6 episodes.
Let’s get in to it.
EPISODE 1 -THE LADY CARPENTER
Episode 1 actually gets right in to it. Demi Samamande, Founder and CEO of Majeurs Chesterfield is interviewed about her background and journey to building a successful business. It was interesting to learn that she studied architecture, and began restoring vintage furniture in England before moving back to Nigeria to establish her company. She had quite an illustrious career in England; being recognized by royalty on two occasions. Her style is largely traditional with a contemporary twist.
What I will say is even before watching this show is Majeurs’ furniture has always stood out for the quality of its finishing. It was great to hear about how she has been able to achieve and maintain this high finish.
Here are some of her pieces.
EPISODE 2- THE BEACH HOUSE QUEEN
Episode 2 is about Tosin Oshinowo, an architect and product designer. Episode 2 starts off with Tosin giving a tour of Aquilina, the first beach house she designed. The space felt very expansive clad in varying shades of white. My favourite thing were the stepping stones across the pool. It really did give a sense of adventure to the space that I enjoyed.
Tosin goes on to introduce herself. She studied architecture in England, going on to receive a masters degree in Urban Design and later Architectural Association. She went on to work for Rem Koolhaas at Office for Metropolitan Architecture. She moved back to Nigeria in 2012 and established her design firm CM Design Atelier. CMDA has gone on to embody Tosin’s design philosophy which is Afro minimalism. Their work expresses this across scale from residential apartments, offices and the Lagos Landmark -Maryland Mall. The firm has also become prolific in the design of beach houses- they are on their 9th one- earning her the moniker- beach house queen.
Tosin also designs furniture for her company Ile Ila which started off with seating upholstered with also oke . Her most interesting product for me are conceptual masks designed in partnership with Chrissa Amuah for Lexus International.
Here’s some of her work
EPISODE 3- THE INDIGENOUS INVENTOR
Dapo Akintude is the subject of this episode. He is an architect and automobile designer. He spent a year in art school before being advised to study architecture.
After studying architecture, he applied to the Royal College of Art to study Automobile design. He was one of 12 members of his cohort. He went on to be the best conceptual designer in his year. He worked as an automobile designer and an architect before moving to Nigeria to continue as an architectural and industrial designer.
What stood out for me the most is Dapo belongs to IVIXI, a group that has supported and contributed in many ways to a vision for an African Utility Vehicle. AUC automobile designed for the climate and terrain of Africa. The prototype of this vehicle uses paneling, vents and other techno to provide ventilation without air conditioning.
Dapo describes his design style as Kinetic. His buildings, objects and cars are always on the move
EPISODE 4- THE CONSERVATOR
Lani Adeoye is the subject of this episode and if you’ve been here for a while you know I’ve spoken about her quite a bit. She is a management consultant turned industrial designer. She moved to Canada as a child before moving back to Nigeria to develop her design practice which draws heavily from Yoruba heritage.
Her design philosophy is harmony. I really love how much consideration goes in to all of her work. In the interview she speaks about all the communities she has worked with from metal artists to mat weavers in Ekiti and even shoemakers.
Here’s some of her work
EPISODE 7 – THE RADICAL ARCHITECT
This episode chronicles work and life of Seun Oduwole who studied architecture for a few years in Nigeria before leaving for Architectural Association. A lot of the episode is spent speaking about the JK Randle Center designed by his firm Si.Sa. I’m super excited about that project so it was interesting to listen to the inspiration behind it and all the plans that are yet to come
Seun states that he is inspired by the sculptural nature of Yoruba art and that inspires his work. I think it is quite clear.
EPISODE 9 – THE (ART)CHITECT
This episode was about Papa Omotayo- Co-founder of MOE+Art Architecture and A White Space Creative Agency. He grew up in Lagos Nigeria before moving to Wales to study Architecture. Like Seun Odewole, an architectural competition he won brought him back to Nigeria.
Papa’s work as an architect and trans disciplinary designer is impressive. His work cuts across scale and typology moving in to curation, film, and art direction. He is deeply inspired by his surroundings and mentions that he is pleased to be able to continually garner inspiration from Lagos. His design ethos is self described as participatory, contextual and collaborative.
He states that currently all his work is about “facilitating the process” and as pretentious as that may sound it is his life’s work.
Other episodes include
1. Theo Lawson- Architect and conservationist.
2. OnMuni Shonibare, a pioneer interior designer and CEO of IO Furniture.
3. On Tola Akerele- founder of iDesign and Bogobiri house.
4. On Jacqueline Aki, Principal Interior Designer at James Cubitt Interiors
5. On Diseye Tantua, an experimentalist artist and designer
6. On Tracy Nwapa, CEO of Interior Culture.
7. On Osaru Alile, CEO of CC Interiors. This episode was also quite pleasant. After a good amount of years in the industry, Osaru is still excited by design and it shows.
The show was quite pleasant to watch. I’m always up for hearing about designers, their experiences and everything they draw from. I would change some of the questions, it became a bit formulaic, especially in instances the subjects had answered these questions asked while answering an earlier question. The editing could also have been much better.
My favourite episode has to be the one with Papa Omotayo- I enjoyed seeing the breadth of work he had and all the ways he engaged with life to get inspiration.
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