Based between the UK and Nigeria, designer Myles Igwebuike works in the field of diplomacy as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Through his practice, Nteje Studio, he collaborates with artisans in southeastern Nigeria to explore heritage through design – be it to reimagine a workout bench for Technogym or develop his line of sculptural wooden chairs. We talk to Igwebuike about his ambition to scale craft and design as soft diplomacy and how others can learn from his work.

Tell us more about Nteje Studio and working with artisans in Nigeria.
I work with local artisans and young designers. I’m a futurist, a young kid with a lot of ambition who thinks that he can change the world. When I go to Nigeria, I conduct a lot of design workshops and try to move the perspective of these young designers and artists from a space of scarcity to abundance. How can we replace a limiting mindset with a mindset that knows no bounds? My workshops are to do with looking at how we use materials that we have in our environment and within our locality. I am currently researching how to scale indigenous craftsmanship, especially woodwork and sculptures. From personal experience and from information that I’ve gathered on the ground, as well as from a diasporic lens, we need to look at how to scale up manufacturing, simplify it and continuously test materiality. What does it look like to replace and reuse? My dream is to create new economies within the Nigerian design industry.

Where do you position yourself within the design industry?
I like to question what design looks like by using cultural heritage as a vehicle to explore it. And this is not to say that all design needs heritage or nuance. But just making more space for it. My practise is about being around southeastern Nigeria and the social dynamics that can be found there. For example, for the last stool I made, I examined mythology and musical instruments to shape its form. My work outside creating beautiful objects is to nurture a community and explore concepts that bring people together. To reconnect with culture – and not necessarily African culture. The whole point is for you to be of any ethnicity or demographic and feel that you can create your own culture, or connect with it, wherever that is and whatever that is.