Design Week Lagos (DWL) announces its inaugural edition with a city-wide celebration seeking to reincarnate tradition, redefine narrative and catalyze new thinking for the future of design in Africa and beyond.
October 2019 will see the launch of the inaugural Design Week Lagos (DWL) festival, West Africa’s first global design fair taking place between 1-20 October with the theme ‘Lagos 2099: Redefining the Narrative.’ This central theme embodies the birth of a new era in African design where African Designers, Professors Historians, Critical Thinkers and Creatives take on the responsibility of defining the intrinsic nature of African Design, paying homage to our rich history to ensure the continuity of our heritage for the benefit of Africans, and the global design community and its consumers. “Design Week Lagos aims to champion a renaissance in Africa’s cultural, economic and technological ascension in design so that it operates as a tool for conversation, development, movement and economic growth,” In says, Titi Ogufere, founder and director, Design Week Lagos.
DWL will inhabit multiple existing venues and newly commissioned pavilions set to be realized in the city of Lagos over 20 days. The ambition here is to create a lasting eco-system that will unite 7 pavilions which are: Architecture, Interior Design, Industrial Design, Product Design, Technology, Visual Arts and Critical Design Thinking. The festival will unfold with a flagship exhibition, Design Kulture, which features designers, architects and artists including Demas Nwoko, Studio Lani and Tosin Oshinowo; the unveiling of seven pavilions that champion the multi-faceted offerings of creative thinking in Africa to navigate a critical stage in the creative dialogue, define the parameters of African design, and pave the way on a global stage; Osmosis, a special project will see top Nigerian fashion designers create contemporary design pieces; a student award competition; and “In Conversation” with Demas Nwoko, a book presentation and exhibition recognizing over five decades of Nwoko’s contributions to modern African Art and Architecture.
“When you talk of design you are talking of a localized activity. You must be thinking of a community of people in this case it’s a whole nation or a whole race.” Says Nwoko. “Whatever I did right was because I followed the principles of design that most people don’t follow today even in Europe. That is why there is in fact bad design everywhere. Like I just told them recently in Europe that is why we have to reinvent the wheel meaning start all over again.”
The festival will feature over 50 events and exhibitions staged by 40 partner organizations across the design community in Lagos and beyond with key events taking place over 20 days. It will be inaugurated by the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, The Honorable Mr. Yemi Osinbajo and the Governor of Lagos State, The Honorable Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Each event is intended to ignite both the professional and creative communities to begin a dialogue in various dimensions through design, as well as accurately represent and project the identity of the African design industry. In addition to this, key projects by established designers will shape the way professionals thrive in multifaceted design spaces. Contemporary African Design is both groundbreaking and of the future. DWL will see installations and interventions from all across Nigeria, Africa and the diaspora bringing visions of Lagos 2099: Redefining the Narrative to create a city-wide celebration of innovation, imagination and criticality in design.
MAIN EXHIBITION
The flagship event of Design Week Lagos is Design Kulture, where designers showcasing at this event include a collection of established product and furniture designers invited by DWL to showcase their African Inspired collections, as well as established African designers who have been commissioned to design product and furniture collections for the exhibition. This commissioned collection will be manufactured for commercial consumption to prove the commercial viability of authentic African Design. Design Kulture will feature works by designers including Gerald Chukwuma, George Edozie, Studio Lani, Tosin Oshinowo, Jade Folawiyo, Tantua Dieseyi, Nupe Studios, Tunde Owolabi, Issac Emopkae, CaxtonAlile, Aga Concepts and Demas Nwoko. The event will be followed by the publication titled “Design Kulture - Redefining the Narrative”. This book will summarize the highlights of Design Week Lagos 2019 by select designers from the exhibition, alongside other designers whose works are relevant to the ethos of the central theme.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
Osmosis by Design Week Lagos is an event that aspires to bridge the divide between Fashion and Interior design in Africa. This event invited a curation of established African Fashion Designers to create stylish home collections inspired by their unique design signatures, which interpret contemporary design from an African perspective. The Osmosis collection will be unveiled during the Design Week Lagos.
Unveiling by Design Week Lagos is an exhibition of a new collection by Titi Lailai Studios which conceptualises quintessential African forms, materials and textures to create contemporary home, furniture and product design pieces.
Follow: @designweeklagosofficial on Instagram, and Visit: www.designweeklagos.com #DWLagos2019
Location: Various
Download the information related to this event here.
Title
Design Week Lagos (DWL)Type
Festival / BiennialOrganizers
From
October 01, 2019 10:00 AMUntil
October 20, 2019 05:00 PMVenue
Lagos, NigeriaAddress
Lagos, Nigeria