Nifemi Marcus-Bello’s work in community projects with an ethnographic bent has won him the Hublot Design Prize 2022 as announced by jury members Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries; Marva Griffin, the founder of the design fair SaloneSatellite; the design critic and author Alice Rawsthorn; and Samuel Ross, who has previously won the award in 2019.
The Nigerian-born designer won for his work that results in new forms and typologies centring around the needs of the community. In 2021, he won the Life-Enhancer of the Year in the Wallpaper Design Awards, for ‘For the community by the community’ portable handwashing station.
The Hublot Design Prize, launched in 2015 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Big Bang, was conceived by Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe and the late graphic artist designer Pierre Keller. The winner is set to receive 100,000 Swiss francs in prize money.
Marcus-Bello in the past few years, has been one of several designers ushering new life into Nigeria’s design scene—creating products that aren’t just unique but eccentric.
Marcus-Bello earned his bachelors and masters degrees at the University of Leeds where he studied industrial and product design. Then he worked for a few companies and returned back to Nigeria to start NMBello Studio where he designs and collaborates with renowned brands at home and abroad. The designer prides himself on creating products from a historical perspective with a contemporary redefinition.
