Furniture brand Benchmark is producing a collection designed by Nottingham-based designer Mac Collins as a celebration of his connection to the African diaspora.
Collins developed his Iklwa chair when he was a graduate student and it has been produced as a consumer range just two years later.
The original throne-style chair has been spun into a collection, also called Iklwa, that consists of two chairs and a side table, developed together with British furniture maker Benchmark in ash and oak wood.
Top: Collins' new Iklwa chair comes in a vibrant orange or a white oil colour. Above: the designer first created the chair as a graduate student
"It felt right to pursue this project with a maker based in the UK, without exporting production to areas of the world where I could guarantee cheap and potentially unfair labour, for increased profit margins," Collins told Dezeen. The Iklwa collection was informed by ideas of Afrocentrism and Afrofuturism, references that come through in the throne-like shape of the chairs and the spear-like forms of both the chairs' armrests and the legs of the small side table.
Collins, who has British and African-Caribbean roots, said his ancestry informs aspects of his work and that he hopes to explore it through the creative medium of design.
"I am of the African diaspora and I wish to identify with that fact and celebrate it," he said.
The collection was informed by Afrocentrism and Afrofuturism
"I am still drawing inspirat...