London/ Lagos, 20 April, 2026 – Design Week Lagos launches its global expansion and 2026 tour with All Roads Lead to Lagos, a landmark presentation at SaloneSatellite during Milan Design Week, spotlighting a new generation of African designers redefining contemporary design through craftsmanship, innovation, and cultural storytelling. SaloneSatellite, the jewel in the crown of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, will take place from 21 to 26 April 2026.
Featuring seven emerging talents across furniture, lighting, and experimental design, the showcase positions Lagos as a rising global design capital while expanding African design’s presence across Milan, Paris, and London ahead of the flagship festival in October 2026.
Titled All Roads Lead to Lagos, the initiative introduces a new generation of African designers working across furniture, lighting and experimental object design. The presentation brings together emerging talents from the Design Week Lagos Design and Innovation Exhibition and Talent Development Programs, showcasing works that engage culture, material intelligence, and contemporary form.
Seven new generation African designers will be featured in All Roads Lead to Lagos: Richard A. Aina, Olaoluwa AJ Durotoye, Nicole Adaora Enwonwu, Myles Igwebuike, Athanasius Johnson, Odema Acacia Saleh and Joan Eric Udorie.
This global activation extends beyond Milan, with additional engagements planned for Paris Design Week and London Design Festival, before culminating in the flagship Design Week Lagos festival at the National Theatre, Lagos in October 2026.
A Platform for Design, Production, and Market Access
Founded as Africa’s leading platform for design and creative industry development, Design Week Lagos has built a reputation for connecting designers to real opportunities across production, distribution, and global visibility.
Design Week Lagos was founded in 2029 by Titi Ogufere, a Nigerian interior architect, founder of the Africa Design Network, and a leading voice in the global design industry. Ogufere is the 21st President of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) and has played a pivotal role in positioning African design within international discourse.
Through Design Week Lagos, she has built one of Africa’s most significant platforms for design, connecting emerging talent to global opportunities across exhibitions, trade, and cultural programming. Her work focuses on bridging design, manufacturing, and enterprise, with a strong emphasis on developing Africa’s creative economy.
Through its core programs the Design and Innovation Exhibition, Made by Design Show, and the National Design and Innovation Competition the platform supports designers from concept to execution, and from execution to market.
This approach reflects a broader ambition: to move design beyond aesthetics and position it as a driver of economic growth.
A New Generation of Designers
Design today exists at a critical intersection between the handmade and the engineered, between memory and innovation, and between local narratives and global relevance. The 2026 edition of SaloneSatellite, under the theme Reimagining Matters: Skilled Craftsmanship + Innovation, calls for a renewed understanding of craftsmanship as a driving force in contemporary design.
At Design Week Lagos, this intersection is foundational. Design Week Lagos’s presentation at SaloneSatellite forms part of a broader global initiative, All Roads Lead to Lagos, a series of international engagements leading to the annual festival in Lagos in October 2026. This presentation is both a preview and a declaration, positioning Lagos as an emerging center for design thinking, production, and global exchange.
The seven designers presented in Milan have been selected for their ability to bridge skilled craftsmanship with innovation, demonstrating how material intelligence, cultural knowledge, and technical exploration can coexist within contemporary practice. The innovative, exceptional work of these designers reflects a shift in contemporary African design.
About the featured designers:
Athanasius Johnson explores structural balance through the Àpò Collection, translating
architectural principles into functional objects.
Nicole Adaora Enwonwu presents the Anyanwụ Collection, where light becomes a medium
for memory and atmosphere.
Odema Acacia Saleh reinterprets everyday cultural objects through the Ofi’Aje Collection,
transforming familiar forms into sculptural lighting.
Richard A. Aina’s Ìsépọ̀ Series bridges craft and engineering through a refined architectural
language.
Joan Eric Udorie’s Bantu Stool exists between art and function, drawing from braided
geometries and vernacular forms.
Olaoluwa AJ Durotoye’s AKANNI KLR Collection translates West African percussion into a
high fidelity audio system.
Myles Igwebuike’s Ọche Chair challenges conventional ergonomics through a precise
structural approach.
Together, these designers represent a generation working at the intersection of heritage
and innovation, redefining the language of African design for a global audience.
Leadership Perspective
“For a long time, African design has existed within fragmented systems rich in creativity but limited in access to production and global markets. This initiative is about building those bridges connecting designers to industry, and positioning African design within global conversations not as participants, but as contributors shaping the future.”
Titi Ogufere, Founder of Design Week Lagos
The Design Week Lagos 2026 Global Tour
The global tour will culminate in Design Week Lagos 2026, taking place from 18 to 26 October 2026 at the National Theatre, Lagos.As the platform continues to expand its international presence, Design Week Lagos is positioning itself not only as a cultural event, but as a system linking education, production, and market access across the African design ecosystem.
