“I started making things at a young age,” Nifemi Marcus-Bello recalls of his early taste of design. But his real journey into the field of industrial design began with a detour. It was while studying something else entirely at the University of Leeds that he stumbled upon the discipline that would define his life. “Once I found it, there was no looking back. I chose to go down the rabbit hole.” What came next was a series of deliberate twists and turns. Each one rooted in deep curiosity, a genuine empathy and a relentless pursuit of understanding the right questions. Today, Marcus-Bello is recognised as one of Africa’s most forward-thinking industrial designers, known for crafting objects and furniture that sit at the intersection of form, function and context. “It’s always been about being honest with what I’m making, who I’m making it with, and why.”

Lagos, the city where he was born and raised, remains a major character in his story and, arguably, a co-author in many ways. “Lagos is the base,” he says. “It’s the context I work from, whether in terms of material availability and production realities, everything starts from here.” There’s an affection in the way he speaks about the city. “People told me it was impossible to do this kind of work here, and to be fair, I hadn’t seen anyone doing exactly what I had in mind. But I allowed Lagos to guide me. It stripped me of any ego I had.”

It’s not hard to see what he means. With Lagos, design isn’t an abstract exercise, it’s a series of negotiations: aesthetics and utility, tradition and innovation, scarcity and improvisation. Marcus-Bello is fluent in these negotiations having spent years working closely with artisans across the city. “I always have to clarify something,” he says. “I’m not an outsider working with local artisans. I am part of that community. I grew up on the mainland. My first job was in Mende. I interned in Oregun. These are my people.”

That sense of proximity, whether socially, emotionally or culturally, shapes the way he works. Empathy is a baseline requirement. “It’s in everything,” he says. “Not just in designing for people, but in working with people.” One gets the sense that for Marcus-Bello, design isn’t just a profession, it’s a mode of inquiry. He begins every project with the written word. “Writing helps me process what I’m trying to achieve.” Sketching follows, then small-scale prototyping by hand, and finally, the careful consideration of materials.

Of those materials, metal holds a special place in his practice. “I naturally gravitate toward it,” he says. “Not a specific kind, just metal in general. It’s predictable. You know how it’ll behave under heat, how it reacts under pressure.” Wood, by contrast, has been harder to navigate. “In Lagos, wood isn’t always respected. You never really know what you’re getting.”

His process came into sharp focus with the Oríkì series. A project that distilled many of his interests into one ambitious exploration. The name references a Yoruba tradition of praise poetry, but to him, it became what he calls a “material affirmation”. He reflects: “Growing up, my mum always used oríkì to call us, which made me feel seen and loved. I wanted to create that feeling, but using materials instead of words.”

The series spans three materials: bronze, aluminium and copper. Each chosen for what they represent. Bronze – the past; a nod to Nigeria’s long history of craftsmanship. Aluminium – the present, common, accessible and familiar. Copper – the future; valuable, difficult to source locally and symbolic of Africa’s ongoing struggle with extractive economies. “When I talk about copper, I’m really talking about how we export raw materials, only to import the finished goods at a markup. What if we refined it here? What could that do for our economies?” It’s a question that gets to the heart of Nifemi’s work. The intent remains the same, which is to learn from the ordinary, elevate the everyday. “I feel privileged to design here,” he says. “Africa is a designer’s utopia if you approach it with humility and curiosity.”

Despite growing international acclaim, including solo exhibitions at Design Miami (where he received the 2023 Curator’s Choice: Design for Good Award), being among the finalists for the Loewe Prize 2025 (for his reclaimed aluminium work TM Bench with Bowl) and features in global publications, Nifemi’s relationship with visibility is ambivalent. “I didn’t start designing to represent anything,” he says. “I just wanted to make things and survive. I never thought about publicity. It was always about the work.” Still, he recognises the importance of pushing for greater inclusion in global design conversations. “When I did Design Miami, they asked for feedback. I told them to feature more African designers. And I gave them names. Because people forget that design has always been here.”

As for what comes next, he keeps things close to the chest. “There are a few exciting things in the pipeline but they’re top secret for now,” he laughs. What’s clear, though, is that Nifemi Marcus-Bello isn’t done asking questions. And as long as there are materials to interrogate, forms to challenge and stories to tell, he’ll keep looking for honest ways to answer them.