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Nigerian architect and product designer Tosin Oshinowo is set to curate the 2023 edition of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. First established in 2019 and taking place once every three years in Sharjah—a city in the United Arab Emirates—it is the first major platform for architecture and urbanism in the Middle East, North and East Africa, and Asia regions.
In her official curatorial statement, titled ‘The Beauty of Impermanence: An Architecture of Adaptability’, Oshinowo writes that issues of scarcity in the Global South “have created a culture of re-use, re-appropriation, innovation, and collaboration.” She goes on to suggest: “These practices propose a new model of thinking—one that is borne out of scarcity rather than out of abundance.”
Tosin working in her office. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
Tosin with her daughter. Photo: via @tosin.oshinowo.
Tosin poses for a portrait. Photo: via @tosin.oshinowo.
Tosin standing in front of one of her architectural designs, Sencillo Beach House for Architectural Digest. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
Tosin wearing the NKWO Omo Shirtdress. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
When she founded cmD+A, Oshinowo had already acquired experience as a young architect working in Europe for firms that were pushing boundaries in terms of design. These include Skidmore Owings & Merril in London, as well as the Office of Metropolitan Architecture Rotterdam, where, in 2008, she was part of the team that designed the proposal for the yet-to-be-built 4th Mainland Bridge connecting Lagos Island.
On her return home to Lagos soon after, she found herself working in an environment that ‘wasn’t about design’, as she puts it. “I didn’t feel very challenged. I had been to a strong design school in London—the Architecture Association. I just felt like the skills that I had been exposed to working in Rotterdam and then going into this, I wasn’t able to use in this practice. I was starting to get restless. Let’s just put it that way. I was at a job doing residential buildings for the oil and gas industry. It was just box houses—nothing exciting.”
She wanted to explore materiality and make work she could be proud of as a designer, which is what led to the founding of cmD+A. As a product designer, Oshinowo primarily focuses on the design of chairs. Her brand, Ilé-Ilà, which means ‘house of lines’ in her native Yoruba, is a luxury, made-to-order line designed and handmade in Lagos.
Bird’s eye view of Coral Pavillion. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
The pool terrace at Coral Pavillion. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
The beach-facing facade of Coral Pavillion. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
A portrait of Tosin Oshinowo Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
The ADUNNI OSAN chair designed by Tosin. Photo: via Tosin Oshinowa
An aso-oke cloth from the exhibition, “The Woven Fabric” by Tunde Owolabi. Photo: via Design Indaba
Aso-oke textile in the process of being handmade on a manual loom. Photo: via @k.adex__asooke
A portrait of Tosin Oshinowo Photo: via Tosin Oshinowo.
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