Estelle Yomeda - Kente Project

At Kente Project Art Lab, shapes interweave transgenerational memories and ancestral techniques, transforming pieces of furniture into contemporary relics.

Estelle Yomeda is an artist designer of Franco-Togolese origin, who began her career in Yves Saint-Laurent's Shoe Studio after studying visual arts at Strasbourg University, and arts and crafts at the Ateliers de Costumes de l'Opéra du Rhin.

She created Kente Project Art Lab, a nomadic design studio that she sees as a "know-how laboratory". Its name derives from her discovery of Kente, a traditional weaving technique that has survived the centuries to become the identifying and symbolic fabric of Togo and Ghana.

Estelle Yomeda's quest for answers began with a meeting with Lomé's craftsmen, combining personal and universal history to give life to her solid wood pieces. The assembly of Melina, Neem and Cassia species - chosen for their interest in a sustainable environmental approach - gives the design a natural polychromy, which underlines the shapes of her series of stools Ekkö Totem.

His bits of sofa Sokodéalso presented at Private Choice 2023, are veritable sculptures. Their sensual form is amplified by their tactile dimension : a velvety outer surface blends with a raised inner wall, grooved with a wood knife.