Africa Centre

In the centre, charcoal-hued facades open onto a ‘warm world’ of sandy clay plaster walls, red-hued terrazzo flooring and lush plants. It has metallic beaded curtains and repeating wall arches which frame dining areas and seating nooks. Stacked cement air bricks form the upper backs of banquette seating, while woven containers and pendant lighting, cork stools, and carved timber furniture furnish its spaces. ‘There’s a strong focus on expressed thresholds, tactile surfaces, quality of light and practices of reuse and appropriation,’ said Freehaus co-director Jonathan Hagos. Hand-applied wall finishes ‘show the maker’s mark’, its indigo staircase wall speaks to the dye-making heritage in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, and its wall arches suggest Islamic architecture in northern Africa. All of its pieces are by designers/makers from Africa and its diaspora.