Born in Nigeria, Obi Nwuazota, an architect who graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has worked at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Eva Maddox Associates, has offices in Chicago and New York. After living in New York, he has decided to make a home here, and among his Chicago designs is the Milwaukee Avenue restaurant Okno. Like Okno, which serves global cuisine, Nwuazota, 30, prefers not to be pigeonholed into one profession or style. He talked about the influences on his work with writer Barbara B. Buchholz.
Barbara B. Buchholz: Tell me about your company and what it has been doing since Okno.
Obi Nwuazota: My company, Ona, includes two other partners and has offices in New York and Chicago. We do residential and commercial architecture, interior design and graphics. We have a separate clothing company that reflects the streetwear young people wear.
BB: What will your new home look like when completed?
ON: My home, which is a six-flat in a Hispanic neighborhood on California Avenue, reflects a cross between my personal beliefs in the extremes of pure modern design and primitive African art. I see similarities. Neither is complex in its language. Angles and shapes reflect simple forms. Purely modern design is usually constructed of technologically sound man-made and machine-made materials; African design is more natural.
BB: How will this home be different from others you have had?
ON: It will be more personal, which makes it more difficult to do. There will be jolts of color, but controlled.
BB: Do you see regional differences between the way people furnish their homes in New York compared with Chicago or other cities?
ON: I do. People on the coasts are exposed to so much more. I haven’t been in the South much, but I think what’s there is more indigenous to the U.S. But in the East, plastics and rubbers in furnishings and accessories in an array of colors have been rediscovered. Those haven’t caught on here, but will. Things seem less permanent there and space is much tighter, so every little thing has to mean more.
BB: Where do you find most furnishings and building accessories?
ON: I’ve always admired a little shop called Moss in New York’s SoHo. Most residential furnishing stores in this country haven’t paid enough attention to mass-produced beautiful objects in the way that Italian and English stores or contract (office) furnishings designers have. Stores like Moss understand their design value and expose customers to it. Things may not be beautiful, but they reflect an edge of experimentation.
BB: Why is contract design more cutting-edge than residential?
ON: The corporate world is able to put more money into development because its pockets are deeper. It can afford to be more forward thinking. Of course, it’s not pushing as much as it should. In many cases and because of telecommuting, contract furnishings would work in homes, but the price points are too high.
BB: Design professionals often tell homeowners to clip photographs from magazines of rooms they like.
ON: I think it’s a great idea. It gives a starting point to communicate, to speak the same language. Some people come to me and say, “I want to do this and that,” but they can’t describe what they want so I can’t visualize.
BB: A lot of us know what we like but don’t know how to arrange it. Is there an order in which you place furnishings?
ON: Because some of us move around so much, our furnishings have to be flexible. I think the first piece to place is the one that most defines who you are, which may have been handed down. It reveals family history and stories. There’s nothing you could buy that does that.
BB: But what do we do once we have all these things we love? How do we arrange them so they look good?
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ON: I think what’s most important is that people have a sense of themselves and their style. Once they do, a designer can help design around their personalities. We should never dictate. At the same time, we should never condone bad taste. We take things and make them look better.
BB: How do you decide when a room is finished for yourself or a client? Most people are tempted to keep adding.
ON: I try to set a strict rule and limit myself to a certain number of pieces. When I satisfy that, I’m done. The reality isn’t always so easy. You need to play the role of a keen editorknow when enough is enough, which is different with each room. When I do a project, I try to do it right the first time and walk away. If there is a glitch, I’ll make it up in the next project. You have to move on.
BB: So, you never add?
ON: Oh, I add and remove in my own home. Removing is tougher. I like electronic toys and hate that what I buy may be obsolete in three months. Sometimes, you have to convince yourself that you used something to its full potential to rationalize a new purchase.
BB: It’s expensive to make changes, so how can we minimize them? What usually inspires them for you–style, scale, color or comfort?
ON: A lot of motifs have a lifespan of say, 18 months. There are cosmetic changes you can make that aren’t expensive, such as changing wall colors or finding something wonderful at a thrift shop. I found four expensive display tables that a retailer was getting rid of at a shop that had bought them but didn’t know what to do with them. I got all four for $70. A good reason for a more significant change is if something’s more classic–timeless. We live in a visual age where we’re prone to change. Changes don’t occur in architecture as fast as in fashion. It’s a peculiar situation to be an architect. You have to look ahead and be sure that by the time you’ve finished something it won’t be outdated.
BB: Any design mistakes you’ll tell us about to help us?
ON: People get too carried away with worrying that they messed up. In doing one space, I recall, a wall was painted the wrong color. But, in retrospect, it solved a problem. Of course, I would always repair a serious error.
BB: What have been the most important design influences of the last 25 years that might have staying power in the next millennium?
ON: Some of the work by Renzo Piano, who did an airport in Japan that has a beautiful poetic feeling. There’s also a new ideological movement in Europe that says we shouldn’t be bound by our profession. I’m an architect, but I don’t do only architecture. I’m inspired by a lot of cultures.
BB: What have been the worst design influences you’d like to forget?
ON: Things that people did that weren’t tailored to them. Not all clothing looks good on everybody. When was the last time some people looked in the mirror? It’s the same with homes. They go to stores and buy what’s nice, affordable and everyone has. The same with lofts. So many people live in lofts where workmanship is inferior because they think they’re the epitome of funky city living. It’s overkill; they should move forward.