chairman: yinka ilori explores the stories behind discarded chairs
Yinka Ilori brings ten years of chair–based work back to Islington, North London, where he grew up, with Chairman, an exhibition at the Walter Sickert Community Centre from October 14th–16th, 2026. Presented during Frieze London and UK Black History Month, the exhibition returns a body of work shaped by the neighborhood’s people, cultures, and everyday encounters to the community that helped inform it. Rather than treating chairs solely as functional objects or collectible designs, Ilori uses them to explore memory, identity, and the relationships that form around familiar things.
His interest in chairs began with a discarded object spotted from a London bus. ‘One moment that’s really stayed with me was spotting a discarded chair out of a bus window in London. It was about to be thrown away, but something about it caught my attention,’ he recalls during our interview. Seeing that chair made him think differently about unwanted furniture and what it could become .‘I started thinking about all the furniture we see on the streets, things people no longer want or think have had their day, and wondering what else they could become.’ That impulse to look again at what others overlook has remained at the core of Ilori’s practice. The designer collects and transforms existing chairs through color and pattern, giving familiar forms new identities without erasing their histories. ‘I’ve always looked at chairs a little differently. We all have them around us, but we don’t often stop to think about their stories. Who has sat on this chair? What’s their story? Where has it been? Why has someone left it behind? That’s what got me interested in collecting and making them in the first place.’
chairs as vessels for memory and identity
For the British-Nigerian artist and designer, the significance of a chair extends beyond its construction or appearance. It belongs to a shared vocabulary of everyday life, associated with domestic rituals, social encounters, and places where people gather. ‘Whether it’s gathering around the dinner table with your family, sitting in the barbershop, or learning in a classroom, chairs are part of so many everyday moments,’ he tells us. ‘I think that’s what makes them so special. They might seem like ordinary objects, but they hold so much memory, meaning and emotion.’ Because chairs are objects familiar to everyone, people can connect with Ilori’s work in different ways. Even when he changes their colors, shapes, and patterns, they remain recognizable. Visitors can relate to them through their own memories and experiences, without needing any knowledge of design. ‘You don’t need to know anything about design to connect with a chair. You just bring your own experiences to it, and that’s where the story begins,’ the artist explains.
Ilori’s first book, Chairman, published by ORO Editions in fall 2026, traces more than a decade of chair-based work through photography, archival material, studio documentation, essays, and interviews. Exploring how his British-Nigerian heritage and London upbringing shape his approach to furniture, the publication also considers how audiences bring their own experiences to the objects they encounter. Although his chairs draw on memories of growing up in Islington in a Nigerian household, Ilori leaves room for others to find their own stories in them. ‘I might be thinking about my childhood, while someone else sees a chair and thinks about their grandparents’ house or family dinners around the table,’ he reflects. ‘For me, it’s about being personal without being prescriptive. I can tell my story through the work, but leave enough space for someone else to find their own story in it.’
bringing art back to the community
Bringing the exhibition to Islington gives the work a direct connection to the neighborhood where Ilori grew up. At the Walter Sickert Community Centre, his chairs return to the community that helped shape his practice, offering local residents a chance to connect with the work through their own memories and experiences. The choice of venue also reflects Ilori’s belief that art should be accessible beyond museums and galleries.
‘It means a lot to bring Chairman back to Islington because that’s where so much of my story began,’ Ilori shares with us. ‘Growing up in North London, I was surrounded by different people, cultures, buildings and ways of life. You take all of that in when you’re young, sometimes without even realising it, and it stays with you. I can see so much of that in my work today…’
For Ilori, the community center offers a setting that aligns with the social intentions behind his chairs. ‘I love the idea of someone who grew up around the corner coming in, seeing a chair and being reminded of a memory of their own.’ He sees the neighborhood as a repository of cultural knowledge, arguing that its histories deserve recognition beyond the conventional structures of museums and galleries. ‘To me the Walter Sickert Community Center is bigger than any traditional institution. The people living here have so much history and connection, that to me the community is already a museum and they are walking artifacts,’ Yinka Ilori adds.
‘I want to deconstruct the idea that you have to have your work displayed in these places to be seen. It’s important to bring art to the people and recognize that not everyone can go to a museum or gallery,’ he says. For Ilori, the timing offers a way to redirect attention toward a neighborhood that might otherwise sit outside the usual routes taken by art-world visitors. ‘Ultimately it’s about opening up the conversation around how people engage with art, which is why holding the exhibition during Frieze is so important. I want people to come away from the traditional areas and view art for more than just an allocated week; art can be everywhere.’
from visual spectacle to shared experience
Color and pattern give Ilori’s chairs an immediate presence, helping them stand out in public settings where people may not be actively looking for art. The designer is also interested in what happens after someone notices an object, whether that means stopping to look, taking a photograph, sitting nearby, or starting a conversation. ‘Color can completely change how a place feels, how you feel, and make you stop and notice something you might normally walk straight past,’ the British-Nigerian artist explains. Unlike a gallery visit, an encounter with a chair on a street or in a community setting may happen without planning or prior knowledge of the artist. ‘For me, that’s where the fun really starts. Maybe it makes someone smile, maybe they take a photo, or maybe it gets people talking. You never really know what will happen, and I love that. I want the work to catch people’s attention, but hopefully it also brings people together and leaves them with something to remember,’ he continues.
The designer wants people to engage with his chairs. A chair can be used as intended, but it can also spark curiosity and invite people to see it differently. ‘I don’t want people to feel that they can only look at my work from a distance. I want them to get curious, spend some time with it and make their own memories around it. Chairs are all about bringing people together, so seeing that happen in different ways is really special to me,’ Yinka Ilori concludes.
project info:
name: Chairman
artist: Yinka Ilori | @yinka_ilori
location: Walter Sickert Community Centre, Islington, London, UK
dates: October 14th–16th, 2026
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