Modular chair system · Designed by Omolola Oyetubo · Aluminum and white oak
A chair establishes a relationship between the body and its surroundings. It shapes how we rest, orient ourselves, and occupy space. DÂ-NIYI considers how this individual act of sitting might become the beginning of a collective experience.
Drawing from the Nuna dâgalo chair tradition of Burkina Faso, DÂ-NIYI reinterprets its three-legged stance, deep recline, and elongated back in aluminum and white oak. The work engages the cultural and spatial intelligence of the original form without seeking to reproduce it.
A discreet connection system allows independent chairs to form pairs, gatherings, and circles—proposing a kind of courtyard without walls. The system remains in development.
A proposed full circle comprises 28 independent chairs. The image below is an early configuration study rather than a rendering of that complete arrangement.
One is a chair. Two is a conversation. Three is a gathering. More becomes a space.
The practice
AGBOLÉ OYÈ is an independent design practice creating sculptural, collectible furniture, lighting, and objects.
Informed by the structural, material, and social intelligence of African vernacular design, the studio approaches cultural histories as living knowledge, bringing research and contemporary experimentation into conversation.
The founder
Omolola Oyetubo is a Nigerian-Jamaican American designer and cultural practitioner whose work moves between furniture, objects, exhibitions, and spatial experiences.
With a background in cultural anthropology, she founded HOUSE OF OYE ↗ in 2023 as a platform for exhibitions and cultural gatherings. AGBOLÉ OYÈ extends these inquiries into collectible objects, exploring how material culture holds memory and shapes contemporary life.