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Livingetc published a conversation between London-based designers Yinka Ilori and Emmanuel Lawal about how their British-Nigerian upbringings shaped their work. They discuss family furniture, the hierarchies built into domestic spaces and design’s potential to bring people together in public places.
Yinka Ilori and Emmanuel Lawal, two London-based designers with British-Nigerian backgrounds, discuss how family life and the furniture in their childhood homes inform their creative work in a conversation published by Livingetc. The interview connects their memories of designated seats and treasured furnishings with their current interest in how design shapes relationships, access and shared public spaces.
Ilori describes growing up in a North London Nigerian household filled with records, sound systems, lace curtains and varied furniture. A corduroy armchair belonged to his father, while the children were expected to use basic plastic chairs. The more comfortable seats were available to them only when their parents were away. He says those unwritten rules were an early lesson in the respect and hierarchy attached to objects in a home.
Lawal, a visual and music artist and founder of the multidisciplinary studio Forestalgia, recalls a similar order around furniture. His parents occupied the two ends of the dining table, while the children sat along its sides. He remembers prized “shine” furniture kept under its protective plastic, alongside everyday chairs. As he puts it, “Everyone just knew their place.” He says the plastic covering stayed with him because it reflected how much the family cared about their possessions.
The designers also connect those domestic experiences to their wider practices. Ilori says he has long been interested in placemaking and the capacity of design and architecture to affect how people see the world. The Livingetc report identifies his mural Walk With Your Dreams in Milton Keynes’ Station Square and his shape-shifting chair collection as examples of his work. Lawal’s studio has created its debut furniture design, Modular 001, a seating-and-table piece described in the report as designed to connect, inspire and entertain.
From Family Furniture to Public Space
The conversation gives readers a view of how personal experience can inform design decisions without treating one upbringing as representative of every Nigerian-British household. Ilori and Lawal describe specific family customs: who could sit where, which furniture was reserved for adults and how prized pieces were protected. They connect those memories to questions of status, care and access that remain relevant to their work.
The public-space dimension matters because design is not limited to objects used inside a home. Ilori’s account of growing up on a North London estate informs his interest in the ways that landscapes, gardens and architecture shape shared experience. His Milton Keynes mural offers a public example of that practice, while Lawal’s furniture work explores how a designed object can support gathering and interaction. The source presents these as the designers’ approaches, not as measured evidence of their projects’ effects on visitors.
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The Homes Behind Their Practice
Ilori and Lawal say they met through their agents “back in the day.” The Livingetc interview uses their shared British-Nigerian backgrounds and London lives as a starting point for discussing the formative rooms and social customs behind their work. Both recall homes where furniture carried meaning beyond its practical use: a family member’s preferred chair, a place at the table, or an item kept in pristine condition.
For Ilori, those memories sit alongside growing up in a North London estate with residents from varied backgrounds. He describes a community shaped by migration and says he was drawn to the gardens and trees around him, even when others did not appear to notice that those surroundings had been designed. The report also notes that he has been developing his chair collection for around 20 years, with pieces including Two Become One, and that the collection is gathered in his debut book, Chairman.
““There is an inherent level of respect, of hierarchy, that comes with certain objects within the home.””
— Yinka Ilori, in the Livingetc interview
What the Interview Leaves Open
The source is a conversation about the designers’ memories and ideas, rather than a report on a newly announced commission, launch date or formal partnership. It does not provide dates for the interview’s publication, the completion of Walk With Your Dreams, or the next planned projects from either designer. It also does not include independent research measuring how audiences respond to their public work or furniture.
The interview’s account of shared themes should not be read as evidence that Ilori and Lawal have identical experiences or design methods. Their recollections are personal, and the material available here does not establish how broadly those experiences apply to other households or communities.
Further Projects and Public Work
The source does not announce a specific next milestone for either designer. Ilori’s chair collection is documented in his debut book, Chairman, and the report points to his work in Milton Keynes as an example of his public placemaking practice. Lawal’s Modular 001 is identified as Forestalgia’s debut furniture design. Any future installations, product releases or collaborations remain unconfirmed in the source.
For now, the interview’s main development is the designers’ account of how childhood domestic spaces continue to inform their work. Readers seeking updates on new projects will need announcements from the designers, their studios or commissioning partners.
Key Questions
What is the news about Yinka Ilori and Emmanuel Lawal?
Livingetc published an interview in which the London-based designers discuss how their British-Nigerian family backgrounds and childhood homes influence their work in furniture and placemaking.
How did their childhood homes influence their design ideas?
Both recall rules about who could sit in particular places and which furnishings were treated as special. They connect those memories to questions of hierarchy, care and access in domestic spaces.
What is Forestalgia?
Forestalgia is Emmanuel Lawal’s multidisciplinary design studio. The Livingetc report identifies Modular 001, a piece combining seating and a table, as the studio’s debut furniture design.
What public project by Ilori does the report mention?
The report discusses Walk With Your Dreams, a mural in Milton Keynes’ Station Square, as an example of Ilori’s interest in placemaking and public design.
Have the designers announced new projects?
The source does not announce a specific upcoming project or release. It describes existing work and the designers’ ideas; future milestones are not confirmed in the material provided.
Source: livingetc.com
