Monday 14 November 2016

Open Lecture Series 05: Yinka Ilori

Yinka Ilori is a London based furniture designer/artist who works with reclaimed chairs and creates narratives, telling stories through his own heritage and linked to "Nigerian paralables"[A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles.]stemmed from his own upbringing and things his grandmother and mother would quote.



Retaining his culture living in North London and creating work that captures these hidden meanings. All of his furniture is 1/1 sourced on the streets and is then broken down and upcycled. Colour and pattern is introduced again with reference to his heritage/background. Work later went on to showcase a collection "family" of chairs that have a shared/collective narrative but also each chair has an individual story based on "real people" Yinka knew/knows. Questions over function vs non-function [linked to the earlier lecture I had] Yinka started off making functional chairs but has since directed them into a state of sculptural object "the non-functional".


I asked Yinka if he has become increasingly more aware when starting a project if the chair will retain function? he mentioned more than ever he questions the purpose and the need for he narratives to function or that they merely present a function that once took place. His work is very distinct and I think the idea of almost having a chair depict not only every person you know but to narrate moments in your life. how an object in this instance the chair becomes the narrator. Yinka mentioned in his presentation that the chair for him is a product we all share and is often a product that is used "when sitting on to tell stories". His chairs certainly carry characteristic. 

I wonder what my chair would look like?

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