The organizers of the Design Workshop Series are delighted to announce the confirmation of Bez Idakula contemporary Nigerian composer and super talent, Omoyemi Akerele creative director of Style House Files and curator of the MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week and Tunde Ero-Phillips Fulbright scholar and sustainable development architect as speakers for the tenth (10th) edition of the DWSeries
Bez Idakula has been tagged as “The next big thing” on the Nigerian music scene by The Guardian and ThisDay newspapers. He has lived up to the hype with his many live performances at Hennessy Artistry Concert Series, Rhythm Unplugged Concert, Lagos International Jazz Festival and the worldwide show- ‘106 & Park’. Bez is currently working with one of Nigeria’s most gifted producers, Cobhams Asuquo. Together they are crafting a sound that can be succinctly described as a breath of fresh air. Bez’s music style is a hybrid of Jazz, Soul, and R&B, a delicious potpourri of sounds he calls Alternative Soul. Though quite different from the ever-popular Afro hip-hop genre in Nigeria, he believes the quality of his music will carve a niche by itself taking him to greater heights as he takes this life long ride, creating and sharing his music with the world. Bez learnt to play the guitar at the age of nine under the guidance of his late father, studied at the Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja and received a degree in Information Communication Technology ICT at Nigeria’s Covenant University.
Omoyemi Akerele is the creative director of Style House Files and curator of the MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week. Akerele received an LL.M Master of Laws from the University of Warwick, England, worked with Olaniwun Ajayi & Co., rising to the level of an associate before pursuing her passion – fashion. She was the first senior fashion editor of the now rested True Love West Africa and has been described by cable network giants- CNN as a ‘fashion pioneer’ in Nigeria. Through her outfit, Style House Files, she is taking painstaking efforts to provide a platform of extensive research, discourse, consultancy and exhibition for emerging and established designers in the African fashion industry. She has curated fashion exhibitions including Tales By Moonlight at the British Council, Lagos.
Tunde Ero-Phillips holds B.Arch and M.Arch degrees from the University of Minnesota and University of Illinois (both in the US) respectively. He received the prestigious Fulbright scholarship to research sustainable approaches to architecture with special focus on bamboo as a building material. With this, he has been a visiting lecturer at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun state and is working hard on his doctorate research on Sustainable Architecture at the University of Lagos where he also lectures. Tunde describes himself as someone who loves to design, ride bikes and listen to music.
He has been building a dream project- a library cum community centre, set to be named after his grandfather in his village, Igbogun Ogun State SW Nigeria. Through this project, he reveals the body of his research in scale 1:1
Established in 2011, the DWSeries has become a major avenue for consistent interaction between industry practitioners and students or willing youths, hence bridging the gap between the two worlds and challenging young minds to creativity and focus. Set on the main campus of the University of Lagos, the Design Workshop Series has received an enthusiastic response from the audience as the forward-looking, experimental and context sensitive show. In December 2011, the organizing committee decided to re-work the workshop series by introducing a system where industry practitioners who have made a reputation out of careers in the creative economy: art, architecture, cinema, literature & music; are invited to keep the lectures expository and interesting. Since 25th February 2012, Tunde Kelani, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, Paul Kodje and Dapo Akintunde have graced the DWSeries stage to deliver thought-provoking sessions.
Attendance has been fully paid for by the facilitators but seat reservations need to be made [Details online]. The organizing committee includes Tony Oladeji Director of the Lagos Biennial, Olajide Emmanuel Acting Head Creative Office ONE EA, Tosin Adeoye Head of Marketing ONE EA, Adedamola Osinloye Head Business Development at ONE EA, Pelumi Olowolafe, Head DWSeries, Sasha Okwoju Acting Head DWBusiness, Wale Folami Head DWConference and. The facilitator of the DWSeries is ONE EA and venues include PG Architecture Studio, University of Lagos and Ember Creek, Ikoyi (both in Lagos), other venues will be announced later.
If you have questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
More information concerning the workshops is available at www.facebook.com/DWSeries and www.DWSeries.blogspot.com
The 10th edition of the Design Workshop Series is funded by ONE EA. Prospective project investors are welcome: kindly write projects@oneea.com.ng
For further information:
HEAD DWSeries
Pelumi Olowolafe [pelumzi-at-yahoo-dot-com]
+234 1 883 5823| +234 807 103 8650| +234 812 718 0658| +234 802 323 0928| www.DWSeries.blogspot.com
