Nohe Milan of design returns whenever he can, and as a protagonist. Yinka Iloria London-based artist from Islington who is proud of his Nigerian origins, is here to tell the story “Chasing the Sun”, the installation immersive experience that he created for Veuve Clicquot at the Santa Teresa Media Library, in via Moscova 28: thriller protagonist, hands outstretched towards the sun, enlightening music.
There light, vital energy, joy translate into a project, perfectly in tune with the philosophy of champagne house.
Like him accessories with multicolored patterns designed for the Veuve Clicquot Boutique so that the experience continues even after Design Week e out of here, in a cheerful, sparkling everyday life: from the bucket inspired by an exotic fruit to the cap that (literally) embraces the bottle, to the brilliant playing cards. There are many of them, they capture the eye, they colonize the spaces of the media library.
The artist and designer Yinka Ilori, at the Milan Design Week with Veuve Clicquot.
“Nomadic” objects, to take away with you «for an overall experience that goes beyond aesthetics» he explains Thomas Mulliez, new President and CEO of Veuve Clicquot, in Milan to toast the event. «Of course, our pursuit of the sun is a bit in contrast with the dark times we are going through, but precisely for this reason today the mission to bring joy and optimism to the world is more important. And it should not be forgotten that the bright idea of the sunny yellow label and the perfect design of the bottle came from a woman, Founding Grande Dame. It all starts from her.”
A world of colours
The yellow, the sun, the joy: the one with Ilori was almost a meeting of destiny. At 39 years old, the artist is a true celebrity for her fantastic color universedirects the studio of designers and architects in London that bears his name and collaborates with international brands and British institutions, thinking and re-thinking things and spaces in the name of festive multiculturalism. He has an innate sympathy, so we ask him…
Where does your unshakable optimism come from?
It comes from my family, made up of people who throughout their lives have passed on to me the idea of happiness, recommending me not to accumulate material things, not to chase them, but to chase joy. I really think for me it all starts from my homenor do I believe that happiness can be learned outside of there. If you are trained with the right foundations, then the rest, including work, works too.
My mother and father, born in Nigeria, they arrived in London in the early 1980s but continued to love their roots and be proud of them. For this reason, even if I only visited it to meet relatives, I have Africa inside me, and my parents remain the most important people in the world. With theirs splendid humanity and an attitude to joy that is like a beneficial shellprotective, a “cover” full of affection that annihilates any negativity.
There are those who say that art must be disturbing… What do you think of the myth of the tormented artist?
Each artist has their own experiences, of course, has their own expression and ideas about what they want to do. I can only talk about mine, about what I know. Like everyone else, I have had ups and downs, experienced a lot, but joy has always remained first, the number one resource. I believe that in times of difficulty we should open up a window to look inside and find positivity. It’s too easy to talk about suffering, pain, trauma… and that’s it. We must look for the light in the darkness.
Too easy to give up, right? We can all give up, but if we all give up, then there is no one left to build the future. Furthermore, the light must also be identified in others. I feel like saying: «Hey, turn on this light, let’s move on!», and my idea is that artists should be a beacon of hope, a medicine, a “painkiller”. I am a doctor of art (smiles).
Some of Yinka Ilori’s creations for Veuve Clicquot, accessories and “gift” packaging for champagne.
The art of joy
In London he exhibited at the Design Museum, covered in Clarence House in colour. She collaborates with international brands… The public loved her straight away. Did you expect it?
No and yes… maybe it means something that my family is religious, they believe and things show up. Even now, this “chasing the sun” with Veuve Clicquot is a joyful manifestation of faith in life. If you manifest the good, if you affirm it with all of yourself, it will surely come. Since I started, and I was just a boy, the public has accompanied me in the search for joy. He wants it again and again, on the other hand joy has no expiration date. It is eternal. But it’s a choice, a personal choice.
You also designed many colorful spaces. Do you like bringing people together?
Yes, today someone asked me about my community… This is my community, it brings together the people I have around here, it goes from Milan to Paris, from Nigeria to New York, wherever a “footprint” of positivity, of optimism is left. In Chasing the Sun the light is orange, yellow, like in a sauna where you feel calm, you feel good. It’s like telling people: start from here, where the joy is, then go away and be blessed all day. You remember the experience, you are part of it, and you want to return. This is how communities are built.
Can you tell us how the collaboration with Veuve Clicquot was born?
We just fell in love (laughs). Meanwhile, champagne has the color of the sun, gives happiness, celebrates nature and being together. The fashion house was looking for an artist to work on a project whose theme was joy/community/sun. My work is inspired precisely by these values, as is the match it was immediate and perfect, at the first email. In a year of very fertile work, I created moodboards, sketches, symbols, and it was a shared narrative. With the idea of creating not one, but multiple sensory experiences. Between sound, heat, open space, people, food… Don’t you think we succeeded together?
SLP