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Spectacle Makers: An interview with Yinka Ilori

Yinka Ilori is a British-Nigerian multidisciplinary artist and designer and—now—Spectacle Maker. His frame for London Design Festival draws on his Nigerian heritage and unyielding optimism. We visited Yinka in his colour-bathed studio, to talk turning his hand to spectacles design.

Interview by

Henry Whaley

#Interviews

Yinka's spectacles, with gradient acetate and flower motifs.

C How did you find the process of designing a pair of spectacles?

Y I made my own glasses in a workshop with Cubitts once before. I fell in love with the whole process then, of taking something from sketch to ideation to the real thing. Of customising something that feels so personal. Your glasses help you see, they’re part of you. People feel connected to glasses as an object. So I wanted to create a frame that really reflect my personality, my identity, as well as some of the themes I’m interested in in my work.

C How were those interests reflected in the details of the frame?

Y Well I’m interested in traditional Nigerian fabric motifs, called ‘àdìrẹ’. These patterns which have been around for so long. I like this four-leaf motif, which is such a positive symbol. I wanted to use that in the frame.

The shape of the frame is based on a calabash, a fruit that grows in West Africa. It has so many uses, and allows all these different moments of joy. It gives you fruit, but also you can use it as a vessel to drink wine and eat food and even as an instrument. All these elements of joy reused in the same object.

The lens shape was based on the cross-section of a calabash, a vessel for joy.

'My whole universe is based on colour.'

C So it becomes another vessel for joy. This is a very joyful pair of spectacles.

Y That was the idea. There’s a saying my parents used to tell me: ‘Your eyes will only see good things’. And I want people to wear these glasses to experience things joyfully.

My work is all about humour. It’s unapologetic. It’s not shy. When you come into my studio, the first thing you do is smile. So I wanted an element of humour and joy to come into this project too. I wanted to create a pair of glasses that would start a conversation.

C A lot of people make a distinction in design, between function and ornament. But in your work, ornament feels like part of the function. The function is to create joy, through pattern and colour and form.

Y Exactly. You want to create a feeling. An emotion. There are the technicalities of the object, but the way it makes you feel is so important.

Yinka's collection of chairs.

C Spectacles are a unique type of object too. I know you have a particular interest in chairs, and it strikes me that they are similar. These universal personal objects that take on a new quality as you use them.

Y It’s true. When I think about my parents, their glasses are so precious to them. If you see a kid touching an adult’s glasses they get very protective of them. Because those glasses are there to help them see. It’s the same with so many things that we surround ourselves with. You develop this relationship that can be so strong.

C Do you collect objects?

Y I do. Books, plates, all sorts of things. I can go back in time when I look at an object. I can remember the emotions I felt when I bought them.  

C Is it a necessary part of your creativity, to collect and distil that into what you make?

Y Yes, I think one of the reasons I make is to re-share those moments with other people. I think it’s important to keep hold of the things that you’ve been interested in, and you can always come back to them. 

There’s this idea about ‘unrealised projects’, the projects you’ve forgotten about. I have a lot of unrealised projects sitting in my archive. You can’t force it. If it’s meant to happen, it will come back. And if you keep hold of them, they can spark a new idea. If you keep an archive of those things you never know what will come of it.

C How did you arrive at this colour palette?

Y My whole universe is based on colour. The way in which people experience my work is so much to do with colour. At the moment I’m looking a lot at sunsets. Different sunsets in different countries. The sun is another one of those joy-bringers.