The founder of Design Week Lagos, Titi Ogufere, has said the upcoming Design Week Lagos 2022 Edition is conceived to look for creative ways to enhance innovative designs in the construction industry, with the aim to promote architecture and designs.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, she said the event, scheduled to take this month, had its theme as, ‘Beyond The Box,’ would enlighten participants of changes in the world of architecture.

Ogufere said, “A lot of things have changed in the industry, we have had more exposure. We also did a documentary on the ‘Made by Design’ show, which has exposed us not just in Nigeria, but to the rest of the World.

“So you have a lot of people coming to the awareness of beautiful designs. Hence, we have so many people doing amazing things and one of the things I say is ‘he that owns the budget, owns the narrative.”

Speaking on design advocacy, particularly on being able to identify quality designers, compared to quacks, Ogufere said a bill would be passed into law in that regard.

She said, “We are educating, showcasing and promoting, so as to bring impact to the architectural industry in Nigeria. Right now we are in the process of getting a legislation.

“I am the 21st President of the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers, that’s the world body for interiors. About five years ago, I sat on a panel where we were trying to review the education policy worldwide, and I noted that in Africa, we do not have that kind of standard education.

“We began to deliberate on how to bring legislation that would help in Africa. Kindly note that we do not have quality interior design schools in Nigeria, except for a PGD programme at the University in Ife. The University of Lagos is about to start its own programme. Now, when we have that kind of issue, there is a problem.”

Ogufere added, “Most of us who studied Interior Design had to go abroad to study interiors. We have a lot of designers now that have qualified abroad and came back to Nigeria.

“What we started saying is how do we get people who will teach? So it is like training the tutors to be able to have that educational standard in place. Thereafter, we got the government involved, and we have been working on this since 2020. We are now at the end where we would bring it out to the World.”