Richly layered, deeply expressive heritage design
Priscilla Omisore is a designer and founder of Priscilla Omisore Interiors Studio. Her residential and hospitality work is internationally resonant, spatially intelligent and intricately crafted. Priscilla’s deep love and respect for cultural heritage, the power of materiality and proportion – an affinity that led her naturally into the design of interiors. Her academic understanding of space, and how to optimise it, is the complementary grounding to her honed creative instinct. An intuitive creator with a love of beauty, Priscilla approaches design with an understanding of history, balance and proportion. The results are spaces that are both serene and lively.
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QUESTIONS with PRISCILLA OMISORE
London, Accra, Lagos & beyond.
Architecture, history and art.
Luxury, character and comfort.
PRISCILLA OMISORE EXPANDS ON HER APPROACH TO DESIGN AND THE EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPE IT.
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Where has your creativity come from and what did you study?
For as long as I can remember, I have always been creative. I always sketched and made models of things as a child. In secondary I studied Art. In college I studied Art & Design, at this point in my life, my affinity to Black diasporic and African culture became stronger. I graduated with a BA Honours Degree in Fashion Promotion (in other words Fashion Journalism) from the University of Creative Arts. Having grown in a foster care home with a British family (Scottish by heritage), I was still learning many parts of my identity, which became reflective in my work. By the time I studied my second Degree in Interior Design, my deep rooted interest for pre-colonial African heritage and history strengthened. My mission in my creativity is to bring African Traditionalism with a contemporary approach. Self-realisation has helped me to become an empathetic designer for global cultural traditions.
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What inspires you?
Travel, nature, art, architecture, music, fashion, sci-fi movies, history and folklore. I think all these aspects embodies improvisation and creativity, bringing forth storytelling, culture, flow, energy and rhythm. It’s the driving force in my interiors studio.
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How do you describe what you do to people outside the industry?
I design spaces that make people feel great. I want them to feel confident, loose themselves having fun and perhaps learn a little and be proud about traditions.
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What's a pivotal moment in your life that changed your outlook in the world?
At the time when I was studying Interior Design, I wrote my thesis on pre and post-colonial Ghanaian and Nigerian art and architecture. I found I was going through a process of self realisation, seeing and understanding the world through an authentic lens... The world is magical, nothing is as it seems.
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What values do you promote in your studio culture?
Passionate, Diversity, Collaboration, Innovation and Curiosity. We work hard and play hard, pushing past our comfort zone, encouraging our teammates to ask questions to deliver the best solutions. Teamwork is everything.
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What spaces have moved you?
Yinka Ilori's Parsloes Park made me realise design could be joyful... To be honest all Yinka Ilori's designs would transport anyone into a new dimension of happiness.
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What should a client look for in an interior designer?
Someone they can easily connect with and whose work represents what you like. If you have that covered, you can craft a space that’s truly you. It’s an intimate process, and there’s no space more intimate than home. This also applies to hotel projects, where a short stay should feel like a home away from home.
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What motivates you?
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What are your strengths?
I am persistent, strong willed and passionate. I believe if there’s a will there’s a way. If you work hard enough you can make anything come true. I don’t get stressed. Every experience is a learning experience, is my motto.
Breaking barriers, changing the status quo. Part of it is also my need to engage the world to different ethnographic identity from Africa in a way that has never been done before.