Cass alumnus Yinka Ilori exhibits a new immersive installation for the London Design Festival.
Yinka Ilori, who studied Furniture and Product Design at The Cass, will exhibit a new collection of six chairs as part of Design Undefined at this year’s London Design Festival. Yinka specialises in upcycling vintage furniture, inspired by traditional Nigerian parables and African fabrics.
Titled A Swimming Pool of Dreams, his new installation is a nostalgic celebration of childhood visits to Margate with his church and family.
The chairs, which are focused around three swimming pools, highlight peoples’ hopes and prayers for the future with the patterns representing individuals' faces. The installation surrounds a vibrant African Dutch Wax pool, where the numerous colours express the multitude of people’s dreams.
Speaking to Creative Boom about how he became interested in chair design, Yinka said: "I studied Product Design and Furniture at London Metropolitan University and during my first year we had to complete a project called Our Chair. It was set by my tutor Jane Atfield and was inspired by Martino Gamper’s chair series 100 chairs in 100 days.
"The brief was to source two old chairs, dismantle them into pieces and use all the original compartments to create a new chair, giving it a new function and identity. This project opened my eyes to new ways of working and understanding the importance of storytelling through chairs."
The Cass has a rich history of excellence in supporting and driving forward London's furniture industry and offers a number of London-based furniture courses.
A Swimming Pool of Dreams will be on display as part of Clerkenwell London’s Design Undefined for the duration of the London Design Festival, from 17 to 25 September 2016.
Pictured: Yinka Ilori
