British-Nigerian artist and designer, Yinka Ilori MBE, today announced the launch of the Yinka Ilori Foundation – a non-profit organisation committed to reimagining how communities across the globe access joy, creativity, and opportunity. With a mission rooted in co-creation, inclusivity, and sustainability, the Foundation will develop permanent community spaces that empower young people, celebrate local identity, and foster long-term self-sufficiency.
The Foundation’s first flagship site will open in Nigeria, marking the beginning of a global movement to use design as a tool for social change. Returning to his ancestral home, Ilori will launch a permanent playscape created with and for local residents. This space will feature modular play structures that are co-built with the community, and supported by a full year of free cultural and skills-based programming. Workshops in music, craft, storytelling, entrepreneurship, and fabrication will be offered alongside training in maintenance and caretaking, ensuring each site remains sustainable and locally stewarded.
Inspired by Ilori’s visual language and shaped by his heritage, the Foundation extends his multidisciplinary practice, which spans architecture, sculpture, furniture and interior design. Known for celebrating joy, storytelling, and dreaming, Ilori has long championed the idea that art and design should be accessible to all. The Foundation will carry this ethos forward, transforming his iconic aesthetic into functional, inclusive spaces that will reflect the voices, skills, and aspirations of the communities they will serve.
This mission is more urgent than ever. Recent research from the University of Exeter reveals that one in three UK children no longer play outdoors after school, despite evidence that outdoor play significantly strengthens emotional development, social skills, and relationships. The Yinka Ilori Foundation launches at a pivotal moment, reigniting the power of play and creativity through vibrant, community-led spaces.
“Growing up, play gave me freedom to dream. It allowed me to turn swings into spaceships and everyday places into worlds of possibility. That sense of imagination and joy is something my mother instilled in me, and it’s at the heart of why I launched the Yinka Ilori Foundation,” said Founder, Yinka Ilori MBE. “I want to create spaces that aren’t just for communities, but with them. Spaces that empower, connect, and inspire. We’re starting in Nigeria, but this is just the beginning.”
The Yinka Ilori Foundation will establish sites across the globe, with a focus on communities in Africa, the United States, United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Asia. Future sites will be uniquely rooted in their local context, but will be united by the Foundation’s mission. They will blend physical design with cultural programming and economic opportunity, creating vibrant community hubs that are functional and inspiring.
Developed in close partnership with local organisations, artists, and educators, every site will be supported by integrated, long-term programming designed to create lasting impact and foster local stewardship.
The Yinka Ilori Foundation’s board of trustees is made up of advisors including Wale Adeyemi, British Fashion Designer; Ellen Port, Founder of EKP Connections; Peju Oshin, curator, writer, and Associate Director at Gagosian and Peter Adjaye, contemporary conceptual sound artist. June Sarpong, broadcaster, entrepreneur and author, takes on an ambassador role for the foundation.
Yinka Ilori MBE is a London-based, British-Nigerian multidisciplinary artist, designer and entrepreneur whose bold visual language draws on his dual heritage to convey new narratives through contemporary design. Drawing on Nigerian parables and verbal traditions, Ilori touches on a multitude of themes that resonate with a global audience. His work is underpinned by the belief that art and design should be accessible to all. Humorous, provocative and playful, his projects demonstrate how design can bring together communities and have a positive impact on society, evoking a sense of joy and optimism. Often using the city as his canvas, he reimagines spaces to encourage a sense of community and invites audiences to engage and participate in his work and its surroundings. A graduate of London Metropolitan University’s BA in Furniture and Product Design, Ilori’s work has been showcased globally through solo and group exhibitions, public commissions and set and exhibition design.
