Patrick-Waheed had run their design firm for a year already from the 10th floor address on Boyle Street in Lagos Island, yet the space remained as uncluttered as if they had just moved in. A tell tale sign of hard core modernists if you needed any and as Patrick Koshoni admits, they're not apologetic about it. Their portfolio bears him witness. Koshoni had run a thriving business as an interior designer prior to the formation of Patrick-Waheed, however, the new partnership with its broadened scope encompassing architecture and property development was an opportunity to break new grounds. The design sleuthe tracked Mr. Koshoni down to Boyle Street to investigate. Nike Fagade joined in on the questioning.
From law to design, there’s got to be a story behind that shift...why interior design?
Before law, there was a passion. And the passion came out as a hobby or likeness. The likeness was for making interiors interesting. I never knew anything about the fact that what I called interest or passion was actually a whole service industry because there were no similar industries that I was aware of at that point in my life which was post- secondary school. In secondary school, I thoroughly enjoyed technical drawing and fine arts.
Your design training did not follow a traditional trajectory; however, short courses are gradually becoming the norm, especially for the creative industries. How well would you say your training has prepared you for practice and what tips would you give anyone desirous of following that route?
I haven’t had any formal training in interiors. What training does is to define a process but it doesn’t give you competence. Competence for me is more or less a natural ability which I believe I have. If I have to give anybody advice about design, I will advocate they go through a formal training but if they haven’t got the passion, they will never be able to get the competence. Apart from the fact that I have the passion, I’m self taught. I read loads of books on design and did a lot of practical experimentation. More importantly, I gave up every other opportunity of income in the confidence that I had what it takes to earn more income from my passion.
Will you say this decision to focus on your passion has paid off?
It has, really, it has given me a source of income, an opportunity to be productive using my inate skills.
After 12 years in the UK, you came back to set up shop in Nigeria. From your experience, would you say Nigeria, with the recent swell in the economy and general air of optimism- is ripe for a truly vibrant design industry?
Yes it is. Design doesn’t need an enabling environment. Design is using what you have to get what you need in a simple, functional and aesthetic way. Those three things are important, for example, to make a smarter looking, more effective motar and pestle. That could be redesigned. You don’t need a certain enabling environment to make more use of rafia and cane while working hand-in-hand with local artisans. All these are on an elementary level.
It’s not usual to find an interior designer collaborating with an architect to run a practice in these parts. How well would you say this model has worked for Patrick- Waheed?
It has worked very well for Patrick- Waheed because regardless of the differences in our skills, there is a similarity in purpose and focus and more importantly, what we term good design. Interior design is more or less a recently used term in Nigeria. What you have more in Nigeria are interior decorators. Interior design isn’t part of our national curriculum at any level neither is interior architecture. That would be one of the reasons why there doesn’t seem to be any collaboration between interior designers and architects because there’s no educational forum for them to meet.
Talking about interior designers and interior decorators, could you explain the difference in their roles?
An interior designer will handle technicalities of interiors with regards to things like space planning, the type of floor to use, the type of lighting system to use, how the space would be divided to meet functional and aesthetic requirements. An interior decorator on the other hand, will deal with details in terms of decoration. You might talk about the colour of carpets, the color of rugs, types of furniture and all in an advisory role. The interior designer will execute the configuration of an internal space to meet safety, aesthetic and economic considerations.
Design has more or less remained berthed in the modernist idiom for the past couple of decades, despite attempts to forge new directions with high tech and green architecture e.t.c. however, front liners like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry amongst others have taken Mie’s straight line modernism into the dormain of expressionism. As a relatively new firm, where does Patrick- Waheed place itself in this global context?
We stick to simple, minimalist, workable design. I would say we have a bias for contemporary and modern design, taking into account requirements and limitations of executing such designs in Nigeria. We are anti- traditional in terms of design.
What have been your most embarrassing and triumphant moments as a designer?
I can design...and I design. But I’m technically not an interior designer because I haven’t gone through a formal training to obtain the qualifications that would allow me to be referred to as an interior designer. That hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the provision of design services. I have done architectural design, interior design, graphic design and I have even dabbled into product design. My best moment is yet to come and thankfully, there has not been any embarrassing moment.
Where do you see design and architecture in Nigeria in the next 20 years?
If I knew where I was going to be in the next 20 years, I would probably have become very rich before that time. In less than 20 years... about a quarter of that time, design as a holistic skill, whether architectural, fashion, graphic e.t.c. will become a singularly most valued requirement for commercial success.
And Patrick Koshoni? What will you be up to in the next couple of decades?
I should be resting and enjoying design at my leisure.
-Ayodele Arigbabu.
dreamarts.designagency@gmail.com
From law to design, there’s got to be a story behind that shift...why interior design?
Before law, there was a passion. And the passion came out as a hobby or likeness. The likeness was for making interiors interesting. I never knew anything about the fact that what I called interest or passion was actually a whole service industry because there were no similar industries that I was aware of at that point in my life which was post- secondary school. In secondary school, I thoroughly enjoyed technical drawing and fine arts.
Your design training did not follow a traditional trajectory; however, short courses are gradually becoming the norm, especially for the creative industries. How well would you say your training has prepared you for practice and what tips would you give anyone desirous of following that route?
I haven’t had any formal training in interiors. What training does is to define a process but it doesn’t give you competence. Competence for me is more or less a natural ability which I believe I have. If I have to give anybody advice about design, I will advocate they go through a formal training but if they haven’t got the passion, they will never be able to get the competence. Apart from the fact that I have the passion, I’m self taught. I read loads of books on design and did a lot of practical experimentation. More importantly, I gave up every other opportunity of income in the confidence that I had what it takes to earn more income from my passion.
Will you say this decision to focus on your passion has paid off?
It has, really, it has given me a source of income, an opportunity to be productive using my inate skills.
After 12 years in the UK, you came back to set up shop in Nigeria. From your experience, would you say Nigeria, with the recent swell in the economy and general air of optimism- is ripe for a truly vibrant design industry?
Yes it is. Design doesn’t need an enabling environment. Design is using what you have to get what you need in a simple, functional and aesthetic way. Those three things are important, for example, to make a smarter looking, more effective motar and pestle. That could be redesigned. You don’t need a certain enabling environment to make more use of rafia and cane while working hand-in-hand with local artisans. All these are on an elementary level.
It’s not usual to find an interior designer collaborating with an architect to run a practice in these parts. How well would you say this model has worked for Patrick- Waheed?
It has worked very well for Patrick- Waheed because regardless of the differences in our skills, there is a similarity in purpose and focus and more importantly, what we term good design. Interior design is more or less a recently used term in Nigeria. What you have more in Nigeria are interior decorators. Interior design isn’t part of our national curriculum at any level neither is interior architecture. That would be one of the reasons why there doesn’t seem to be any collaboration between interior designers and architects because there’s no educational forum for them to meet.
Talking about interior designers and interior decorators, could you explain the difference in their roles?
An interior designer will handle technicalities of interiors with regards to things like space planning, the type of floor to use, the type of lighting system to use, how the space would be divided to meet functional and aesthetic requirements. An interior decorator on the other hand, will deal with details in terms of decoration. You might talk about the colour of carpets, the color of rugs, types of furniture and all in an advisory role. The interior designer will execute the configuration of an internal space to meet safety, aesthetic and economic considerations.
Design has more or less remained berthed in the modernist idiom for the past couple of decades, despite attempts to forge new directions with high tech and green architecture e.t.c. however, front liners like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry amongst others have taken Mie’s straight line modernism into the dormain of expressionism. As a relatively new firm, where does Patrick- Waheed place itself in this global context?
We stick to simple, minimalist, workable design. I would say we have a bias for contemporary and modern design, taking into account requirements and limitations of executing such designs in Nigeria. We are anti- traditional in terms of design.
What have been your most embarrassing and triumphant moments as a designer?
I can design...and I design. But I’m technically not an interior designer because I haven’t gone through a formal training to obtain the qualifications that would allow me to be referred to as an interior designer. That hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the provision of design services. I have done architectural design, interior design, graphic design and I have even dabbled into product design. My best moment is yet to come and thankfully, there has not been any embarrassing moment.
Where do you see design and architecture in Nigeria in the next 20 years?
If I knew where I was going to be in the next 20 years, I would probably have become very rich before that time. In less than 20 years... about a quarter of that time, design as a holistic skill, whether architectural, fashion, graphic e.t.c. will become a singularly most valued requirement for commercial success.
And Patrick Koshoni? What will you be up to in the next couple of decades?
I should be resting and enjoying design at my leisure.
-Ayodele Arigbabu.
dreamarts.designagency@gmail.com
