Events

Lani Adeoye is a Nigerian-Canadian designer. The founder of Lagos-based Studio Lani, her work spans furniture, lighting, wearables, and assistive devices.

Adeoye designs what she describes as “timeless objects and spaces that dance to a universal melody while tuning into a deep sense of place.” By reimagining everyday materials and traditional production techniques, she creates work that moves beyond the functional to connect with users. Frequently inspired by her West African heritage, Adeoye’s sculptural, narrative-driven pieces highlight stories often overlooked in design discourse, ranging from stools influenced by African talking drums to a minimalist walker inspired by her grandfather’s experience.

Adeoye studied commerce as an undergraduate at McGill University, worked as a consultant for Accenture, and then studied interior design at Parsons School of Design, where she currently teaches. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Die Neue Sammlung design museum. In 2022, she won the Designing for our Future Selves award at Milan’s Salone Satellite. She was selected by Elle Décor for its “Women of the World: 75 Global Female Designers Worth Celebrating” issue in 2020, and is featured in the publications 1000 Design Classics and Woman Made, a celebration of the world’s greatest female designers.

The UIC School of Design public seminar series serves as a research platform for the school’s MDES program, stimulating broad intellectual inquiry about the values guiding the designer by promoting discourse across industrial and graphic design.

Thursday, November 16
6:30–7:30 pm
Room 1100
Architecture and Design Studios
845 West Harrison Street, Chicago

Free and open to the public.