Talking Points: Yinka Ilori and Chair Design
Can furniture tell us anything about the person who made it?
Yinka Ilori is a designer who uses bright colours and patterns to transform everyday objects and spaces. From redesigned chairs to large-scale public sculptures and installations, his work is playful, joyful and inspired by his British and Nigerian heritage. Through colour, pattern and shape, Ilori uses design to tell stories about who we are and where we come from.
Watch the videos below and use the following questions to explore Yinka Ilori’s colourful chair designs and public artworks.
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Yinka Ilori
Yinka Ilori is a multidisciplinary artist and designer with a bold bright visual language influenced by his British-Nigerian heritage. Three components that feature heavily in Yinka’s work are pattern, colour and storytelling.
Yinka uses his crafts as a way to communicate Nigerian parables and verbal traditions.
His work is described as a fusion between contemporary design and Nigerian tradition.
“If the chair you are sitting on could tell your story, would it be a dangerous or good thing?”
Explore some of Yinka’s chairs here.
Please note: Teacher Advisory. Pls watch the video below and decide if you would rather start the video after a few minutes in.
Explore Yinka’s collection ‘If Chairs Could Talk‘ alongside work by the poet Julian Knxx
Watch these videos made by the Craft Council about Yinka’s practise.
Questions to Ask Children
Make a list of everything that you can see in the classroom that has been designed by an artist/designer.
Spend 5 minutes designing a chair based on your mood right now, think about your decision making and annotate the design.
Name colours that are happy/sad/angry/excited.
This Talking Points Is Used In...
using sketchbooks to make visual notes
