The Design Museum in London Displays Yinka Ilori’s Vibrant Work for the First Time

The Design Museum in London Displays Yinka Ilori’s Vibrant Work for the First Time

PARABLES FOR HAPPINESS by the London-based British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori features for the first time at the Design Museum in London. Exhibited from September 25, 2022, to June 25, 2023, essential aspects of Ilori’s work will be placed beside key influences, including artworks, photographs, and furniture, to Nigerian textiles. Curated by Priya Khanchandani, the exhibition celebrates Ilori’s mix of cultural influences and unpacks the ingredients of a diasporic visual language.

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Yinka Ilori is a mix of cultures. His color obsession comes from the African fabrics of his childhood and is the foundation of his practice that he regularly captures along with the geometric patterns in Nigerian design. Establishing his studio in 2017, Ilori’s work has swayed from architecture, furniture, and graphic design. PARABLES FOR HAPPINESS is the first time Ilori’s creative practice has been examined in a museum display.

The exhibition includes some of his key architectural projects, such as Laundrette of Dreams which was built from over 200,000 LEGO bricks. This will be shown alongside a model by the artist Bodys Isek Kingelez, demonstrating the utopian potential of architecture that resonates in Ilori’s work.

Visitors will also examine the now-dismantled 10-meter-high Colour Palace pavilion for Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2019 and his multi-colored transformation of pedestrian crossings across central London. Other highlighted projects include his stage design for the 2021 BRIT Awards and The Flamboyance of Flamingos, a colorful playground transformation of an out-of-use play area in Barking and Dagenham, UK.

Ilori’s exhibition displays his fascination with chairs. With over 80 chairs designed, PARABLES FOR HAPPINESS shows one of his earliest projects, a series of refurbished old chairs that were hacked to add color, restructured, and adjusted in their forms to convey narratives through them and brings Nigerian verbal traditions into conversation with contemporary design.

“Over the years, my work has gained recognition for the strong use of color, pattern, and narrative that comes from my Nigerian heritage. However, it has often deviated from design trends and has been misunderstood. This display charts my inspirations and creative journey as I transitioned from furniture design to community-driven public installations” — Yinka Ilori.

Alongside the over 100 objects displayed, some of Ilori’s personal items will be exhibited, reflecting his Nigerian heritage. That includes a traditional Dùndún (Talking Drum) and albums of Afrobeat, hip hop, R&B, and grime with lyrics in Yoruba or Nigerian. These albums and their connection inspired the display’s title: “Ilori breaks down the lyrics of these tracks and draws on the parables as inspiration for his work.”

Opened in 1989, the Design Museum in London has staged over 100 exhibitions, welcomed over seven million visitors, and showcased the work of some of the world’s most celebrated designers and architects, including Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Jonathan Ive, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray, and Dieter Rams. For the first time in a museum, PARABLES FOR HAPPINESS enliven the public realm with installations and murals in a playful combination of color and pattern display.

The opening coincides with London Design Festival 2022 and is one of a series of events worldwide that curate, bring, and display the best in architecture, art, and design such as the TAB -Tallinn Architecture Biennial 2022 and the 18° International Biennial of Architecture of Buenos Aires. For more events, explore the Architecture Events to Pay Attention to in 2022 and the Architectural Events list: September’s Packed List of 29 International Happenings.