Made in Nigeria: Balvenie’s celebration of craftsmanship in a new age

Michael Olumide

What does “craft” mean in an age of speed and spectacle? For a new generation of Nigerian makers, it’s not nostalgia, it’s resistance. Across design studios, workshops, and galleries in Lagos, artisans are reclaiming old techniques and imbuing them with a distinctly modern pulse.

Their work, steeped in memory and material, insists that beauty still belongs to those who take their time.
It is a philosophy that resonates thousands of miles away, in the rolling fields of Dufftown, Scotland, where The Balvenie distillery continues to malt its own barley, employ in-house coopers, and age whisky in hand-tended casks.

In both places, the act of making is more than a process; it is a philosophy of patience, purpose, and permanence.
But the brand’s dedication to craft extends beyond whisky.

Through The Makers Project, The Balvenie celebrates modern artisans around the world, honouring those who devote themselves to their craft with thoughtfulness, originality, and care.

Across continents, The Balvenie’s Makers Project and Raw Craft documentary series have spotlighted creators who put their soul into their work, from shoemakers in Dublin to furniture artisans in Tokyo.

Each echoes that mastery is not about speed, but about substance. It’s about people who shape beauty with their hands and hearts.

That global conversation has now found a new home in Nigeria, through Design Intersect 2025, an ambitious design fair curated by Tola Akerele, a Lagos-based designer and founder of iDesign and SOTO Gallery.

Known for her thoughtful interiors that blend contemporary form with cultural storytelling, Akerele has long championed the idea that design should be rooted in place and that every object can tell a story about identity and intention.

As Nigeria’s newly appointed Director General of the National Theatre, Akerele straddles two worlds: one institutional, one artisanal. Her work at Design Intersect 2025 bridges them. The fair’s theme, “Reimagining Resources,” challenged participants to see beyond scarcity, to explore how local materials like raffia, terracotta, steel, and clay can spark contemporary innovation.

Where Materials Tell Stories
The “Reimagining Resources” exhibition featured works that embodied the values anchoring both Nigerian design and The Balvenie’s craft: patience, authenticity, and reverence for process.

Lani Adeoye’s “Talking Stools,” eight years in the making, were hand-shaped from natural materials to honor the intimacy between maker and medium.
Kanyinsade Ademuson’s “Fold V1 Chair” demonstrated how traditional metalworking could meet contemporary minimalism, precision-cut from steel sheets without welding to minimize waste.

John Asuquo emerged as one of the exhibition’s most compelling voices. Her Uyai Vessels merged terracotta and bronze to explore the sensuality of imperfection.

Also, her “Objects of Experience” series transformed everyday items into artistic meditations on human interaction, while the Oculus piece drew from the complexity of the human eye to create work that engaged both sight and emotion.

ONWU, a design practice founded by Marizu Onwu and Onwuguzo, presented Adala—brass anklets historically worn by Igbo women as symbols of prestige, now manipulated into vessels for plants and jewelry.

Ifedoyin Shotunde’s Ketega Mat, inspired by Japanese tatami but crafted entirely from local materials, suggested that tradition travels, adapts, and transforms without losing its essence.

The Balvenie’s partnership with Design Intersect 2025 feels almost destined. Both share a devotion to process, provenance, and patience, and both believe that beauty lies in the making, not the marketing.

Through curated whisky tastings and storytelling experiences, The Balvenie joined Tola in honouring the people and materials that give life to Nigerian design.
For The Balvenie, supporting initiatives like Design Intersect 2025 means recognizing that the values driving its whisky-making are alive and evolving in Lagos studios.

To craft is to care—to believe that excellence is measured not by speed but by soul. In Lagos, a city known for its frenetic energy, these makers represent something increasingly rare. Their work insists that local materials contain untapped potential, that heritage can fuel rather than limit innovation, and that the future of African design will be shaped by hands that know their history.

From the still rooms of Scotland to the studios of Nigeria, a quiet renaissance is unfolding. The tools and traditions may differ, but the spirit remains the same: true mastery takes time. And time, when treated with care, becomes art.