Emerging designer Mac Collins on his Afrofuturist furniture

With its shield-like backrest, deep aquamarine hue and low, relaxed seat, there’s a tangible power that exudes from Mac Collins’ Iklwa chair and, in turn, anyone who sits on it. Its throne-inspired form – and the empowerment it bestows – stems from Mac’s shrugging off of European furniture traditions in favour of researching his own cultural heritage, and the movements of Afrocentrism and Afrofuturism. His Iklwa chair won him the Belmond Award at New Designers 2018 earlier this summer and at London Design Fair last month, he picked up the top prize in Cræftiga inaugural edition. We were desperate to find out more.

From Black Panther to Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer, 2018 has been the year that Afrofuturism crossed over into the mainstream. The cultural movement draws on African history, mythologies and aesthetics and combines them with science fiction and technology to imagine alternative pasts, presents and futures for the continent and its diaspora. It spans music (think late jazz musician Sun Ra’s epic stage persona or techno project Drexciya – an underwater nation populated by the descendants of slaves thrown overboard), art (Cyrus Kabiru’s  scrap metal masks or much of Basquiat’s work), literature (Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler), fashion, filmmaking and much more.

The furniture of Northumbria University graduate Mac Collins, who won the inaugural Cræftiga prize launched by Hole & Corner magazine and this year’s Belmond Award at New Designers 2018, draws on this tradition alongside the concepts and aesthetics of his own cultural heritage. ’Throughout the first two years of my course I based all of my designs on Japanese and European influences because they’re so good at furniture making, but then I realised I actually have a really rich heritage of my own that I could be commenting on,’ Mac tells us. ‘So I started looking into my own ancestry and how I ended up in the UK. It took me down quite a dark road to the beginnings of slavery and I felt really powerless and frustrated when I was reading these things. The throne I’ve created is a response to that that throws It completely on its head and has the power to empower, rather than oppress.’

Composed of a rounded shield-like backrest, cut through with spear-shaped arm rests, it’s difficult to sit of Mac’s throne without feeling a sense of confidence. ‘I definitely think designers have the power to change things,’ says Mac. ‘Throughout the research phase of this project I was looking into movements that are becoming popular now, such as Afrofuturism and Afrocentralism. You take cultures that have been portrayed in negative ways and find the positives, using design the showcase that.’

As part of his Cræftiga win, Mac will receive mentoring from the Hole & Corner. Following his success at New Designers, Mac has been commissioned to create a bespoke design for the Belmond Hotel Cadogan, as well as spending time learning from its in-house design team and craftspeople. ’New Designers is a stepping stone between studying and the real world,’ says Mac. ‘I don’t think opportunities like this would come up if I wasn’t here to show my work.’ You can catch the Iklwa chain at the Young Furniture Makers exhibition at The Dutch Church and Furniture Makers’ Hall on 10 October.