{"id":423,"date":"2025-08-22T21:36:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/?p=423"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T16:37:20","slug":"designing-chaos-how-daniel-obasi-turned-lagos-into-a-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/2025\/08\/22\/designing-chaos-how-daniel-obasi-turned-lagos-into-a-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"DANIEL OBASI, DESIGNING CHAOS"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Few Nigerian creatives have bent as many disciplines to their will as\u00a0Daniel Obasi. A self-taught graphic designer turned stylist, photographer, and filmmaker, he first earned global attention with\u00a0Fashion Eye Lagos\u00a0for Louis Vuitton (2022), a book-length visual ode to his city\u2019s layered realities. In 2024 he opened\u00a0AMAH, an independent members\u2019 club, studio, and residency space in Lagos that hosts exhibitions and supports emerging talent.\u00a0Its first artist-in-residence programme debuted in March 2025, signaling Obasi\u2019s ambition to build an ecosystem rather than a solo career. Speaking from AMAH\u2019s rooftop studio, Daniel Obasi reflects on the unlikely path that led him from reception desks and DIY newsletters to styling fashion week runways, shooting editorial campaigns, and dreaming of a six-month-on, six-month-off life between Lagos and Paris.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

So how did design enter your life?
<\/strong><\/em>Out of necessity. My mom had an accident, and I had to delay university for two years to support the family. I found a job as a front-desk assistant. It wasn\u2019t glamorous: I was welcoming guests, signing people in\u2026 but I started redesigning the company newsletter in my spare time. They had no designer, so I learned Photoshop on YouTube. That newsletter caught the attention of management and eventually launched me into branding, visual communication, even customer strategy. That\u2019s when someone said to me, \u201cYou have an eye for advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

What happened next?
<\/strong><\/em>I enrolled at Orange Academy, an alternative creative school in Lagos, where I studied copywriting and art direction. I couldn\u2019t draw, but I could write, and I could think visually. That led me to university, where I studied French. I thought,\u00a0Okay, maybe literature is still part of this story.\u00a0I started doing freelance design jobs while in school, trying to make enough money to cover tuition. I was still trying to figure it out.<\/p>\n\n

So fashion came later?
<\/strong><\/em>Way later. In fact, I actively resisted it. It seemed superficial. But one day, friends told me about an internship opening at Lagos Fashion Week. I was skeptical (no pay, long hours) but I applied. They asked us to wear black to the interview, like it was a secret society. I had no experience in fashion. I told them, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything, but I\u2019m hardworking.\u201d Somehow, I got the job.

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What was that first fashion week like?
<\/strong><\/em>Total chaos. I was assigned to shoe duty backstage: no glamour, just figuring out shoe sizes, arranging pairs, helping models. Then I met\u00a0Funmi Fagbemi, a stylist who changed everything. She had this tall, commanding presence, with pink locks, oversized polo shirt, lace socks, boots. Androgynous, powerful, soft, and sharp at the same time. I was struck by how she managed the madness with elegance. I introduced myself. She gave me her number. The next day, I was running errands for her editorial shoot, and soon after, she brought me into\u00a0Hours\u00a0magazine as a researcher. That\u2019s how I entered the world.<\/p>\n\n

How did your creative identity evolve from there?
<\/strong><\/em>I started writing again. I was visiting exhibitions, researching stories, learning how to build a visual world around a concept. That led to styling, and eventually, to photography; again, out of frustration. I couldn\u2019t find photographers who understood what I was trying to say, so I picked up a camera. It was trial and error, but I learned by doing. The storytelling came first. Technique followed.<\/p>\n\n

You\u2019ve developed a very distinctive visual language. What influences it?
<\/strong><\/em>Literature, definitely. Lagos, always. And the women who raised me: my mother, my aunts, my principal. There\u2019s also a strong pull toward mythology, surrealism, and the aesthetics of rebellion. I\u2019m fascinated by androgyny, vulnerability, dream logic. My work often explores masculinity in flux. But it\u2019s always grounded in local reality: the dust, the colors, the heat, the resilience.<\/p>\n\n

What role does Lagos play in your work?
<\/strong><\/em>Lagos taught me how to produce. It taught me structure through chaos. You can\u2019t wait for things to be perfect here. You make them work. You learn to be scrappy, strategic, poetic. That\u2019s how I managed the\u00a0Fashion Eye: Lagos\u00a0shoot for Louis Vuitton. We were in the middle of a pandemic, and I had to figure out logistics, safety, storytelling\u2026 all at once. It was wild. But Lagos had prepared me for that.<\/p>\n\n

You\u2019re vocal about the economic realities of being an artist in Nigeria. What\u2019s your biggest concern?
<\/strong><\/em>That we\u2019re losing the infrastructure for serious artistic work. There are no magazines anymore, no long-term commissions, no ecosystem for photographers, stylists, or art directors to thrive. Everything lives and dies on Instagram, and that\u2019s not enough. Likes are not a career. We need platforms. Collaboration. Sustainability. That\u2019s why I created\u00a0AMAH.

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What is it exactly?
<\/strong><\/em>A hybrid space: part studio, part agency, part co-working, part gallery. It\u2019s a test. Can we build an art ecosystem from scratch? We host residencies, produce short films, shoot content, stage exhibitions, and help brands find visual language. I fund it myself. No grants, no sponsors. Just belief and hustle. But it\u2019s working. We\u2019re bringing in other artists. We\u2019re growing together.<\/p>\n\n

What kind of artist are you, in your own words?
<\/strong><\/em>I\u2019m an artist who knows there\u2019s a business to run. I care about longevity, not flash. I care about community, not competition. I\u2019ve been doing this professionally since 2018. I\u2019ve learned that to last, you need to value your own time and demand that others do too. That means: don\u2019t work for free. Insist on credits. Break down your fees. Structure is resistance.<\/p>\n\n

Is there a generational shift happening around that mindset?
<\/strong><\/em>Slowly, yes. I\u2019ve had stylists come up to me and say, \u201cYou\u2019re the reason I raised my rate.\u201d That means a lot. Not because I want to be seen as a mentor, but because it shows the value of transparency. When you invoice clearly, when you define your worth, you force people to take the work seriously. That\u2019s how change begins.<\/p>\n\n

You\u2019ve mentioned Paris several times. What\u2019s the connection?
<\/strong><\/em>Paris feels like a spiritual home. When I launched\u00a0Fashion Eye: Lagos\u00a0there, I was met with openness. No gatekeeping, just kindness. I shot for\u00a0GQ France, walked around with a sense of possibility. I\u2019ve always said: if I could afford it, I\u2019d do six months in Lagos, six months in Paris. That\u2019s still the dream.<\/p>\n\n

So what\u2019s next?
<\/strong><\/em>I want to shoot couture. I want to direct a film. I want AMAH to become a model for alternative creative ecosystems; not just in Nigeria, but anywhere that needs one. And I want to keep telling stories that matter. Stories with depth. Stories with roots.<\/p>\n\n

@iamdanielobasi
<\/a>@amahstudios<\/a>
<\/a>AMAH Studio<\/a><\/strong>

Photos by\u00a0<\/em>Morgan Otagburuagu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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Few Nigerian creatives have bent as many disciplines to their will as\u00a0Daniel Obasi. A self-taught graphic designer turned stylist, photographer, and filmmaker, he first earned global attention with\u00a0Fashion Eye Lagos\u00a0for Louis Vuitton (2022), a book-length visual ode to his city\u2019s layered realities.…<\/p>\n

Read more\u2026DANIEL OBASI, DESIGNING CHAOS<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","iawp_total_views":10,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-fashion","category-lagos","ratio-3-2","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citymagazine.city\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}