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.
