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Livingetc published a conversation between London-based designers Yinka Ilori and Emmanuel Lawal about how their British-Nigerian upbringings shape their work with furniture and shared spaces. They discuss childhood experiences of seating, status and family homes, alongside Ilori’s public placemaking and Lawal’s studio practice; the source does not announce a new joint project.
Yinka Ilori and Emmanuel Lawal, two London-based designers of Nigerian heritage, discuss how family life and childhood homes have shaped their approaches to furniture and public space in a Livingetc interview. The conversation connects everyday experiences of seating, status and care at home with the designers’ wider interest in how design can shape people’s relationship to places.
Ilori and Lawal say they met through their agents, and the interview focuses on shared experiences rather than a newly announced collaboration. Both describe households where furniture had clear social meaning: some seats were reserved for parents, while children used less comfortable chairs. Ilori recalls his father’s corduroy armchair and white plastic chairs brought out for gatherings. Lawal remembers his parents occupying the ends of the dinner table while the children sat along its sides.
Their homes also reflected care for possessions and a desire to make a space feel special. Ilori describes a mix of lace curtains, rugs, records and a velvet sofa in his North London family home. Lawal recalls decorative furniture kept covered in protective plastic, a practice he says conveyed how much the family valued those objects. These recollections inform their discussion of furniture not just as useful equipment but as part of household customs and relationships.
Ilori describes an early interest in placemaking and in the potential of design and architecture to affect how people see the world. He grew up on a North London estate among residents from varied backgrounds, many of whom had migrated to Britain. The source also identifies his large mural, Walk With Your Dreams, in Milton Keynes’ Station Square, and a chair collection developed over two decades and gathered in his debut book, Chairman. Lawal is described as a visual and music artist and founder of the multidisciplinary studio Forestalgia; its debut furniture design, Modular 001, combines seating and a table.
How Childhood Spaces Shape Their Work
The interview offers a grounded account of how design ideas can grow out of ordinary domestic routines. Ilori and Lawal link who gets which seat and how valued furniture is protected to questions about status, access and belonging. Those themes extend beyond the home when designers shape shared spaces, where decisions about layout and use can influence who feels welcome.
Ilori’s Station Square mural illustrates the public scale of that work, while Lawal’s Modular 001 shows how furniture can be designed around gathering and interaction. The conversation does not establish that the two designers are working together or measure the effects of their projects. Its relevance lies instead in explaining the experiences and ideas they say inform their separate practices.
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From Family Homes to Public Places
Both designers grew up in British-Nigerian households in London. Their accounts describe homes shaped by family traditions, carefully kept possessions and furniture that marked differences in age and authority. Ilori recalls a North London estate with residents from many cultural backgrounds; he says the built environment around him contributed to his interest in how places are made.
Ilori’s practice includes furniture and public artwork, while Lawal works across visual art, music and design through Forestalgia. The source presents their remarks as a conversation about personal influences, past work and future projects, including questions of access. It does not provide a full project timetable or announce a specific upcoming commission.
““design is a global language””
— Yinka Ilori, as quoted by Livingetc
No Joint Project Is Announced
The supplied Livingetc report does not specify its publication date, and the available material does not identify a newly commissioned project by Ilori and Lawal together. Although the conversation refers to future projects and access, it gives no confirmed launch dates, partners, budgets or detailed plans. The designers’ observations about design’s influence are their perspectives, not reported findings about measured outcomes.
Further Project Details Remain Pending
The interview points readers toward Ilori’s ongoing chair collection and his work in public space, as well as Forestalgia’s furniture practice. No next milestone is set out in the supplied report. Any updates on future commissions or joint work would need to come from the designers, their studios or subsequent reporting.
Key Questions
What is the news about Yinka Ilori and Emmanuel Lawal?
Livingetc published a conversation in which the two London-based designers discuss how their Nigerian-British family backgrounds and childhood homes inform their design work.
Have Ilori and Lawal announced a collaboration?
No joint project is announced in the supplied report. The article presents them in conversation and discusses their individual practices.
What childhood experiences did the designers describe?
They recalled family homes where seating reflected age and authority, along with furniture treated as valuable. Ilori remembered his father’s armchair and plastic party chairs; Lawal recalled covered furniture and assigned places at the dinner table.
What projects does the report mention?
It identifies Ilori’s Walk With Your Dreams mural at Milton Keynes’ Station Square and his chair collection gathered in the book Chairman. It also mentions Forestalgia’s Modular 001 furniture design, which combines seating and a table.
Source: livingetc.com
