Nigeria Unveils First Govt-backed Pavilion At 2025 London Design Biennale

Nigeria will for the first time unveil an official national pavilion supported by the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy at the London Design Biennale in June 2025.

The first-ever unveiling marks a pivotal moment for Nigeria’s creative industries on the world stage as it is Nigeria’s first government-backed project at the global design event.

Curated and designed by Nigerian-American designer, researcher and social innovator, Myles Igwebuike with production and programming led by founder of Culture Lab Africa, Itohan Barlow Ndukuba, the Nigerian Pavilion explores identity, heritage and the future of design from a Nigerian perspective.

The project reflects Nigeria’s growing investment in its creative industries and international cultural presence.

At the core of this exploration is Lejja, a historic community in Enugu State, known for its ancient iron-smelting technology, one of the world’s earliest metallurgical innovations.

Through a multi-sensory experience combining ethnographic research, advanced digital tools, and speculative architectural interventions, the Pavilion repositions Lejja as a conceptual “social capital” of Nigeria, highlighting its overlooked contributions to governance, gender relations, and ecological sustainability. By foregrounding Lejja’s legacy, the Pavilion makes a compelling case for design as an active agent of historical reclamation.

Speaking on the Biennale’s overarching theme, the curator and designer of the pavilion, Igwebuike, said, “This Pavilion is an intellectual and spatial provocation. By dissolving the artificial boundaries between science and the humanities, we articulate a new paradigm, one that reclaims indigenous technologies as legitimate epistemological tools, capable of informing contemporary discourse on design, history and identity.”

Founder of a design and creative consultancy firm, Culture Lab Africa, Itohan Barlow, said, “The vision for Nigeria’s creative economy is rooted in empowering our West African designers and entrepreneurs to lead not only in innovation, but in storytelling that defines our true identity on the global stage.”

The minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, said that the pavilion will showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage, design, innovation and creative excellence.

“The Nigerian Pavilion serves as a pivotal opportunity to showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage, design innovation, and creative excellence on an international stage, aligning with the Ministry’s Nigeria Destination 2030 vision.”