'For the first time ever, I am really hopeful.'

WASTED // DOMESTIC // Yinka Ilori

WASTED//BROKEN//GROWN is where I am serialising my most recent two books Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020 – now sold out in book form) and Broken: Mending & Repair in a Throwaway World (Ludion, 2023) and where I will be publishing the final book in the trilogy, Grown: Design That Gives Back, but only with your support. Subscribe and upgrade to paid to get all three books delivered to your inbox, chapter by chapter, and to support me in writing the third book.

You’re on the no. 38 – the London double-decker that runs between Clapton Pond and Victoria. As the bus draws up to the kerb, the man sitting in front of you leaps off, grabs a dilapidated chair from the pavement and hops back on, placing his find carefully in the empty space usually reserved for pushchairs. Rewind a few years and that man could be Yinka Ilori (1987, London, UK) – now an Elle Decoration British Design Award winner. ‘I was obsessed with broken chairs,’ he laughs. ‘I would see them on street corners and grab them. I got some uncomfortable looks from people on the bus and my parents got pretty frustrated with my growing collection – there was barely enough space in my bedroom to sleep!’

His obsession began at London Metropolitan University with a brief inspired by Martino Gamper’s 100 Chairs in 100 Days project, for which the Italian designer created new chairs from discarded ones. Ilori and his cohort were asked to bring two chairs together. ‘Seeing two chairs from two different worlds form a new narrative blew my mind,’ he says. ‘I suddenly saw chairs, not just as seats, but as objects that could have power and depth in society and, viewed in a gallery setting, perhaps even change perspectives.’

‘It was when I went to Nigeria for the first time that I became aware of recycling … I was fascinated to see how people redesigned everyday objects.’

The brief might have been a lightbulb moment, but the seeds of storytelling through design were sown much earlier. ‘My parents had grown up in Nigeria and unapologetically wore Swiss voiles and Dutch wax prints in spaces that weren’t predominantly African – their pride in their culture had a real impact on me.’