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Interior design has always been an interest of mine and much like everyone else in lockdown, my bedroom soon turned into my office, my chill space, and well, my sleeping place. Thoughts soon turned into action, as I actually began sprucing up my home and making my surroundings as nice and bliss as possible.
What better person to talk about all things design with than interior textiles designer Eva Sonaike. The German-born designer of Nigerian origin has been working in the interior design industry for 13 years and has her own eponymous interior company.
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Sonaike feels the art and culture she was surrounded by growing up in Germany and her Nigerian heritage have inspired her and are beautifully reflected in her textiles and designs.
“Schooling in Germany puts you in a straight track of organization and strategic thinking, and I think I apply that to my brand but also to the way I design. I think it is quite a mixture of both,” she explains.
Whenever she returns home to West Africa, she fully absorbs the culture including all the concepts from architecture, nature, textiles, music, and fashion, and incorporates that into the essence of her work.
Describing her brand as “modern luxury African,” Sonaike says her textiles and designs appeal to people from all over the world. “It’s the core of my brand,” she says. “I don’t do anything else but African culture and African design. Everything I designed is inspired by the African narrative. The African story can be told on every level like any other textile tradition.” In conversation, she passionately discusses how she wants to show the high-end side of Africa and bring Africa to life through her work, stating “the African aesthetic is very important to me.”
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Not only does her heritage influence her craft, but prior to becoming an interior textiles designer, Sonaike also worked as a journalist for 10 years and has a natural ability to storytell which encapsulates her creative work.
“Storytelling is at the core of my design work and collection,” she says. “Everything is related to a story, everything starts with a story, and I think I take everyone on a journey through this story. I think the storytelling is really, really important. Every well designed home should tell a story, should the story of its owners, of their history, their preferences, their life, so I think it’s really important that storytelling is the core of interior and the core of my work.”
When it comes to the process of her textile design work, she credits her photographic memory for making mental notes of patterns, movements and styles she sees and likes. She also takes inspiration from the continent from everything including museums, restaurants, exhibitions, concerts, and more. She then turns these ideas into patterns and sketches, which eventually become her products and items in her brand.
Sonaike’s products have been stocked worldwide and she’s currently represented in four continents across the world. In Africa, her craft is represented in Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Her range has featured in residential and commercial properties across the globe including hotels.
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Although she finds it difficult to pinpoint one highlight from her career, she says she feels truly blessed for all her achievements throughout her interior textiles design work. She explains that working with department stores such as Selfridges and Liberties helped her understand the interior design market and gave her the confidence to put her craft out there.
Sonaike’s brand is all about Bringing Colour to Life and she exudes passion when she discusses the importance of colour in your home: “Colour can enhance your mood, your life, your health significantly if you can integrate that into interior design and introduce it to the place you’re surrounded around the most, it can be super beneficial on many levels.”
We move our conversation onto the continent and I ask Sonaike what would be her dream space or place to renovate. She explains she would love to live and work in the Aburi Mountains, Ghana, which is about a 45 minute drive outside of Accra. She said she would love to create a concrete space where it has an open window front looking out onto the greenery, the nature, the flowers and the mist. She would keep the interiors very minimalistic with a grey colour palette inside but with pops of colour added everywhere as with a space like this - nature truly speaks for itself.
Speaking about the interior designs industry, Sonaike explains that if there are other people who are interested in working in the interior textiles design industry without prior training similar to her, she says you need to believe in it and want it. You need to find your USP as she explains to me a lot of stuff has already been done but if you can find a real purpose and story for what you want to do, you need to do everything in your power to achieve it. She advises that you need to prepare to take setbacks as well, but you should go for it as there’s room for so much talent in the industry.
We chat about upcoming plans for the rest of 2021 where Sonaike shares one of her priorities — attaining a better work/life balance — as she is very busy with her business. She reveals she’s got some exciting collaborations coming up the rest of the year and 2022, and remains focused to keep bringing African inspired textiles to the home.
I ask her about whether she’s noticed a change in people’s taste in interior design styles with us all having to spend more time at home than ever before due to the various global lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic. Although there’s not been much of a change, she explains to me people are researching much more to enhance their homes.
Sonaike talked more about her illustrious career, shared tips and tricks for decorating your own home, and more.
Quickfire interior design Q&A:
What traditional colours from Nigeria could you incorporate into your home?
“I think blues are always very good...I think indigo blue is a really, really beautiful colour. Blue is a very easy colour to integrate into design schemes. It comes in different shades, you can obviously go for a lighter blue or a darker blue… blue is a fantastic colour to start with integrating... If you wanted another traditional colour, purples and greens as well, which I am obsessed with and I love.”
What traditional patterns/fabrics from Nigeria could you incorporate into your home?
“We have aso oke which is handwoven, normally it’s a stripy pattern...I love the batik (textile) I think it is very unique… I love Fulani blankets from the north of Nigeria which are more of a black and white woven blanket which are fantastic. I love them… things to start with, maybe the aso oke fabric and adire fabric.”
What is the best way to use lights in a room if your room is dark and a bit pokey?
“There’s certain things we need to think about when we’re thinking about lights...If you have a very dark room, I would try to bring as much natural light as possible… I think it is a mixture of window treatment, good downlighting and mood lighting.”
I have a very small flat and in lockdown, it has felt at times quite confined. What’s the best way to utilize the space?
“The colour of your walls is really important for a small space. I’m a massive ambassador of colour but I’m not necessarily an ambassador for colourful walls. So, the lighter you go, the more spacious your room feels… I would go for light furnishings, also, lighter colours and then bring in pops of colour everywhere with throws, cushions, bedsheets.”
What are the common DIY mistakes people make?
“You need to understand the difference of paint from a matt emulsion to an eggshell to a satin finish. Lots of people don’t understand... and they paint it on, and it’s not right, so you need to understand the usage of paints.”
“Other DIY mistakes people make are hanging paintings far too high…I think also window treatment. Often people don’t understand window treatment like they have the most amazing, lush curtains and they have no more light in their house. I think lighting is also a problem. I think you need to understand lighting.”
Can you give me three key interior design tips to give my house/flat a boost on a budget?
“Understanding your story, don’t follow any trends you see on Instagram that’s not really you, always have a bit of colour in your designs, and thirdly, everything is so accessible… there’s so much great budget stuff on the market which is actually not bad quality so go out there and explore what’s there.”
There are so many great wallpaper patterns out there, but it is such a big commitment and I am worried I will get bored. What do you recommend — wallpaper or paint?
“Do both. I think wallpaper will give you a different finish. Wallpaper has seen a major comeback — you can do a feature wall, you don’t have to wallpaper the whole room.”
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