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Modern, tactile, and unapologetically rooted in African heritage: Jomo Tariku’s designs strike a rare balance between culture and craft. Each piece feels familiar yet entirely new – functional enough for daily life, expressive enough to tell a story. Drawing from the objects and art his family collected across Africa, Jomo translates memory, history, and natural forms into modern African design that resonates across continents. His work doesn’t just occupy space: it commands it, inviting connection, curiosity, and a deeper appreciation for the continent’s creativity.
I met Jomo in Tanzania, and in our following conversation, he reflects on what it means to be an African designer today: the influence of his Ethiopian upbringing, the rigor of industrial design, and the ways in which everyday objects – ritual, function, and heritage – inform his work.
From his expositions, like the Afrofuturist Period Room, to the subtle reinterpretation of traditional forms, in chairs, stools and products, he unpacks how culture, craft, and modernity converge in his designs, offering a rare insight into one of the minds behind contemporary African design.
Jomo Tariku:
“What helped me was studying industrial design. It gave me a framework for thinking about functionality, ergonomics, material choices, and production – everything that makes an object work in the real world. The balance comes from merging that technical, industrial mindset with the richness of heritage, creating objects that are both modern and deeply rooted in African identity. During my industrial design thesis at the University of Kansas, in the US, I focused on African designs. The goal was to create a modern African design line that I could call my own. I wanted to build something that could be attributed directly to me. That was the intellectual structure guiding me even back in 1992.”
Jomo Tariku:
“Yes. One reason I pursued this is that, growing up in Ethiopia, our architecture and libraries were full of incredible collections, mostly American or European. During breaks, I would wander through these collections. I had never seen anything like them when I was young. My father, although not a designer, worked in civil service and was very interested in structure. Our home had pieces from different parts of the world, and he took great pride in them.”
Jomo Tariku:
“Absolutely. As a child, I would interact with these objects during the long summer breaks. My father would warn me not to damage anything, but I was encouraged to explore them. My brother and I even did apprenticeships in a small woodworking station in our neighborhood. There were only three or four machines, but it gave me hands-on experience. My father collected all these design pieces during his travels across Africa, and our home became a kind of repository. From an early age, I was surrounded by objects that shaped my creative thinking. Later, studying industrial design allowed me to combine that heritage with a scientific approach – understanding ergonomics, psychology, functionality. That became the perfect marriage: traditional inspiration with modern, analytical design methods.”
Jomo Tariku:
“Studying industrial design introduced me to a scientific approach to design. I learned about ergonomics, functionality, material efficiency, and production processes. I could marry that technical rigor with the aesthetic and cultural language of African heritage. For example, I was fascinated by Ashanti stools, the traditional three-legged stools in Ethiopia are often carved from a single piece of wood. Beautiful, but from a production perspective, it’s not efficient in today’s manufacturing environment. I had to rethink how to honor the form and function while creating joints and methods that allow modern production. That’s the balance: maintaining inspiration while applying contemporary industrial design principles.”
Jomo Tariku:
“My heritage is the launchpad. It provides endless inspiration. Objects, forms, patterns, stories – these are not just decorative; they carry cultural meaning and functionality. African designers have historically been underrepresented in design canons. Often, when African work appears in books or collections, it’s exoticized, folkloric, or treated as peripheral. My goal was to assert that African design has its own language, one that can influence contemporary design globally. We are custodians of our culture, but also innovators – we can create objects that impact the present and future.”
Jomo Tariku:
“Take the Nyala chair, for example. Its clean, Scandinavian-influenced lines are grounded in industrial principles, but the inspiration comes from African heritage. The design reflects both aesthetics and functionality. In Ethiopia, stools are carved from a single piece of wood, but we can’t produce that efficiently at scale. I had to innovate – creating joints and using materials in a modern way while respecting the form. I see this as a contribution to my generation. It’s about evolving tradition, translating cultural heritage into contemporary design language, and maintaining functionality without losing artistic value.”
Jomo Tariku:
“Design is a universal language. When I interact with designers from different countries, I see how perspectives intersect. I incorporate these influences alongside African heritage. My work becomes a dialogue between cultures: lines and forms that are clean and contemporary, but with a narrative rooted in Africa. My design language is neither purely African nor purely Western; it’s an amalgamation. African heritage gives the soul, industrial design gives the structure, and international influences give perspective. This fusion is central to my philosophy.”
Jomo Tariku:
“Growing up in Ethiopia, industrial design wasn’t even recognized as a profession. I was surrounded by objects – masks, spoons, furniture – that fascinated me. My father, although not trained in design, appreciated well-crafted objects. Our kitchen table, for example, was Scandinavian; it had character, structure, and craftsmanship that spoke to me. I drew these objects as a child, not as an academic exercise, but because they intrigued me. Objects carry history, personality, and emotion. They’re what remains over time, what survives as a record of culture. I’ve always been fascinated by how objects can embody human experience, not just utility.”
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https://designwanted.com/jomo-tariku-design-unapologetically-african/
