Lani Adeoye brings her Nigerian heritage and global perspective to the West African crafts exhibition at Salone del Mobile.
This article is part of our special design coverage for Milan Design Week.
Lani Adeoye is a world traveler.
The designer simultaneously teaches design at her alma mater, Parsons School of Design in New York City, and manages projects at her company, Studio-Lani, in her hometown of Lagos, Nigeria.
This week, Ms. Adeoye, 35, will be somewhere in the middle, curating the Craft West Africa exhibition at SaloneSatellite, the annual showcase of emerging designers at Milan's Salone del Mobile, whose theme this year is “New Crafts: New Worlds.”
“I truly believe in this rich but undervalued area of design,” she said of handmade items.
Marwa Griffin Wilshire, founder and curator of SaloneSatellite, said that once she had settled on Africa as the theme for the 2025 exhibition, she asked Ms. Adeoye to participate.
“Given her strong ties to the region, I wanted Lani to be part of the project, to do the research and bring her ideas to the fair,” she said. Ms. Adeoye agreed to provide a list of artisans from Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Nigeria who would exhibit contemporary pieces made using traditional methods, including stools and tables.
For example, items from Burkina Faso are bronze items made using the lost-wax casting method, which involves pouring molten metal into a mold, while items from Cameroon are hand-carved from wood.
