If you’re not excited by designer Yinka Ilori, you’re simply not paying attention.
The British-Nigerian phenom is known for his signature use of bold color and pattern in his multi-disciplinary work, that’s infused with his cultural heritage. Vibrant, uplifting, and playful, his focus as an artist is on bringing people together through joyful design. Ilori helms Yinka Ilori Studio based in London, where he and his team of “color-obsessed architects and designers” strive to carry Ilori’s mission of spreading and creating happiness with each project.
This year, Ilori has continued to share his joyful gospel, while pushing himself in new directions as an artist and designer. In June, his stint as the headlining artist of ART on THE MART launched in Chicago, in which his immersive commission entitled Omi Okun is displayed on the facade of the Merchandising Mart along the Chicago Riverwalk. Omi Okun is a deeply personal project for Ilori, in which he used new and innovative technologies to reflect on his past. It will be on view through September 11.
Ilori also launched a collaboration with Momentum Textiles and Wallcoverings at NeoCon in Chicago last month, which features textiles and wallcoverings designed for commercial use in public spaces such as offices, hotels, and lobbies. But wait, there’s more! Ilori and his team also designed a pavilion for Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s festival in Berlin, Ballet of the Masses, About Football and Catharis. Entitled Reflection in Numbers, the pavilion invites visitors to embark on a critical and artistic journey that explores the complex themes of racism in sports and personal accountability.
Somehow in the midst of all of this, Ilori found time to chat with me about Omi Okun, his collaboration with Momentum, and the power of dreaming. Our conversation is below!
(This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.)
I’m a storyteller, and I’m always looking for new ways to tell stories within the work that I do.
Clearly you have a lot cooking in 2024! Is there an aspect of what you’re working on this year—a specific project, a theme, a technique—that you’re particularly excited about?
I’m super excited about a project I’ve been working on that will launch in June for ART on THE MART, it’s called Omi Okun. It’s my first time working with stop motion and AI, and it’s probably my most personal project to date. It’s looking at my family experiences of going to the seaside of Margate in the UK with my church congregation. We’d go every other Sunday to pray by the sea, connecting with nature and connecting with our community. I’m telling that story through AI and through this film, which will be debuting in June.
What was so nice about this project was I was able to use AI and a number of different techniques and processes to create my landscape across characters and sound. It’s a full 360 experience where it takes the audience on a journey inside my mind and my childhood. That’s an area I’m looking forward to because I’m a storyteller, and I’m always looking for new ways to tell stories within the work that I do.
Considering these technologies are a new frontier for you as an artist, was it a big adjustment exploring AI and digital world-building?
It was quite new for me as far as trusting a machine or a system to reimagine what I’m thinking or what’s in my head or what ideas I have on paper. I’m used to being in control of my process because it’s physical, and it’s me with a pen and paper. But it was a really exciting process to tell this story. I’ve been working with a really talented animator and 3D designer, Ted Le Sueur, and he’s been instrumental in helping me realize this story and narrative.
Are you enjoying these AI processes enough to keep working in that space, or did you get your fill from this project and want to return to the physical work you’re more accustomed to?
I know you previously covered my Flamboyance of Flamingos playground, and I’m actually doing another playground which will be in the AI space. It’s with a well-known tech company brand, and will be launching later this year either at Frieze or the London Design Festival. We’re taking a project and turning it into an AI space so that people can access my playground around the world, and can build their own playground. It encourages people to play. I’m a big believer in play being a tool for people to come together and to play collaboratively. So that project will sit online, and you can access the playground all over the world.
The problem with the work that I do in the play space and product space, is that not everyone is able to access a playground or a slide or a swing. So the power of creating this online playground using AI, is it makes my work and my play space accessible. It allows me to engage with new audiences and people and make new friendships. I’ll also learn how people play around the world; the way we play in England might be very different from how kids play in America, or how kids play in Nigeria. I find it really interesting to see how different kids play in this AI space I’ve created.
I’m always obsessed with how kids play, how kids dream about playing, and what they do to facilitate that world of play.
It’s interesting to think about how the way children play has changed over the last decade or so. I’m sure how I played as a kid in the 90s is very different from how a kid in 2024 plays. Your work encourages play, but still embraces modern-day technology in doing so.
I grew up in an era of playing Nintendo 64 and Super Nintendo and PlayStation, but also, I played outside; we played all sorts of outdoor ball games. The way we play now is always evolving and changing, and I’m always obsessed with how kids play, how kids dream about playing, and what they do to facilitate that world of play.
Obviously Omi Okun is a departure from what you’ve typically created, but I’m curious if you can still identify a common throughline that’s present in all of your work, no matter the medium?
The biggest theme throughout my work is this theme of dreams and dreaming. I will never stop emphasizing the power of dreams. With the world I’ve created and am still trying to build, it’s about making people understand the importance of dreaming, and how much it can change the world.
I will never stop emphasizing the power of dreams.
With the work I’m doing now, I’m very interested in looking at themes of mindfulness and peace and nature and being outdoors; reconnecting with the everyday things we might take for granted. The AI piece I did for ART on THE MART is very centralized around water and the sun and connecting with different people. The work I’ve been creating over the last decade is personal, but in the next few months you’re going to see a much more personal Yinka, with much more personal stories that people might not know about the work or me or my experiences in the past. I’m really looking forward to how people respond.
What inspired you to go into this more personal direction with your recent work?
I’ve spent the last few months traveling; I went back to Nigeria in January, and I hadn’t been since COVID. I was really inspired. I went to the beach, and I felt the most peaceful and appreciative of life and my presence of being there and for my loved ones.
I want to try to create work that people can feel connected to, individually but also as a collective.
When I sat down at the beach, I noticed all of the kids running around, people going into the sea. I looked at everyone, and everyone felt very at peace with themselves. That’s what water can offer. The biggest takeaway for me is that I want to try to create work that people can feel connected to, individually but also as a collective.
It’s almost as if the more personal and vulnerable you are with your work, the more universal it becomes. Those might seem like opposite ideas on the surface but when an artist shows their unique humanity, it lets people in to really connect to them.
Growing up in my house, I was always encouraged to express my feelings and emotions. Especially with art, there are so many topics; sexuality, or conflict or war or identity. But the biggest thing for me right now that I think we’re all looking for in the world is peace, and that’s something that we all need. In the world but also in our personal lives, we’re looking for that inner-peace. That’s something I’m still trying to find and discuss within my work. The work I’m creating now, I’m ready to talk about some of these more personal things related to pain and joy and community. I want to give the audience something a bit deeper.
You also have a collaboration with Momentum Textiles and Wallcoverings at NeoCon 2024 in the works. Is designing textiles and wallcoverings a new avenue for you too?
It felt like a natural progression for me. I’ve been working with textiles like swiss lace and vlisco and all of these fabrics I’d grown up with as a kid at my parents’ house in London. My mother was a fabric and textile dealer, so she would travel around the world and sell it to her friends and family for church services and weddings, anything exquisite and special, they would wear it.
I’ve always been obsessed with the power of cloth, and what it symbolizes in different communities. For me, it symbolizes identity, power, status, wealth, culture, community, integration. Being around that from such a young age, and then working with it within furniture and upholstery, I was like, This is a no-brainer, I have to create my own textiles.
I wanted to create a collection of textiles that celebrated the themes of community, joy, and affirmation. I always think of Joseph and his technicolor dreamcoat— textiles are like a super power to me. With these textiles, I’m hoping that they will be a tool to make people dream within the workspace and uplift their mood in the workspace. We spend a lot of time in our offices and we spend a lot of time thinking and dreaming. So I’m hoping that the textile collection can be a tool that can add to that experience when you’re in the office.
You’ve said that this textile collection has an emphasis on community. In what ways do you think color and design have the power to bring people together and create community?
I’ve seen it firsthand within my culture. When I look at my Nigerian community—let’s say that it’s somebody’s 50th birthday party—they would go to a market and buy fabrics, and 10 people would wear the same color and fabric to that party. There was this idea that in order to celebrate someone or something, you want to do it together. So I think that’s where the idea comes from for me; fabric can be a tool to tie people together. Within the workspace, what you find is that people search for a sense of belonging and community, and textiles offer that.
You’ve been so prolific and done so much in your career, how have you achieved this longevity as an artist? How do you maintain the momentum to keep creating without burnout?
When I travel, I am the most creative. Travel feeds new ideas, new themes, and new places for research and points of reference. Being able to travel a lot and going into a country with no ego, opens my eyes to new themes and new ideas. I spent my whole life in London, but when I went to Morocco two weeks ago, I was so inspired by the culture and community, and then I went to Nigeria. Traveling keeps me going.
In my studio right now, we’re also trying to be a lot more selective in the work that we take on, working with people who are really able to challenge me, and who are there to take risks and shake up the art and design industry.