Feels Like Coming Home: Africa Centre In London

WORDS Sarah Buitendach PHOTOS Felix Speller PORTRAIT Clara Wat

The Africa Centre in London has reopened at last. In its new location, this iconic meeting place for diasporans is a wonderful showcase of some of the finest creativity our continent and country have to offer.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously described the Africa Centre, in its original location in Covent Garden, as a hub for “all who are Africans, and all those who have a care for the interests of the continent and its people.” It was opened by Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, in 1964, and for decades was an important place to meet, party and talk politics for people a long way from their homes dotted across our vast continent. Many South Africans in exile, including former president Thabo Mbeki, were among them.

So you can imagine the dismay when it closed its doors in 2013. But, almost 10 years later and at a new address – a revamped office block across the Thames, in Southwark – the cultural centre has opened its doors again. This new iteration is the design brainchild of London’s Freehaus architects and interior designer Tola Ojuolape. The welcoming spaces they’ve fashioned include the Malangatana Lounge, named for the acclaimed Mozambican artist and a mural of his that was removed off the stairwell wall in the old centre, and now has pride of place here. The Mandela exhibition space and Tatale – a pan-African restaurant – are also part of the first phase of the centre’s development.

When VISI chatted to Tola Ojuolape, who was born in Nigeria and grew up in Ireland, she put particular emphasis on how intentional she was in making sure the space represented a variety of African aesthetics and designers, but in a contemporary way. “I really struggle with the term ‘African design’,” she explains. “It’s difficult to say such a thing exists because, essentially, you’re trying to marinate 55 or so countries and create this aesthetic.” So for the Africa Centre, she concentrated on African design unifiers such as texture, colour, and creating by hand and the sensibilities that come with it. She wanted to celebrate African craftsmanship across the continent.

Tola, who has a background in food and beverage services design, has travelled across Africa, and finds it amazing how “collecting these trips as part of my own memories” has dovetailed so well with her career. For the centre, she worked to represent countries that are hugely disparate geographically and culturally, and teamed up with Tapiwa Matsinde of Atelier 55 to handle the complex logistics of importing items from far and wide.

Their dedication has paid off – and these interiors will immediately feel familiar to fans of local design. Mash.T Design Studio pendants hang above barstools by Dokter and Misses and stools from Phases Africa. There are pieces by Vogel and David Krynauw, Wiid Design and Modern Gesture. But these are deftly mixed with design from Senegal, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, and even from well-known international brands like Moroso (specifically from its M’afrique collection) and Ghanian-British starchitect David Adjaye’s Djenne collection of fabrics for Knoll. “We wanted it to feel familiar, irrespective of where people are from,” says Tola.

The layered use of wood, pattern, beadwork, textured plaster, and even instantly relatable materials like breeze block does the job in that respect. Add in a sophisticated but prominent colour palette, and you have a memorable space that is at once modern and an homage to the centre’s roots.

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