Inimfon "Ini" Joshua Archibong (born 23 June 1983) is an American-born Nigerian artist,[1][2] whose work reflects an interest in master-craftsmanship and its relationship to modern and ancient technology. His works explores the relationship between art and design. he had stated that "the idea that something has to be useless in order to be art is something I reject."[3]
Born to Nigerian parents who emigrated to the United States as academic scholars, Archibong was born and raised in Pasadena, California.[2][4] He graduated from the Polytechnic School in California, then briefly attended the University of Southern California's business school before dropping out.[5][6][7] He subsequently enrolled at ArtCenter College of Design where he was both an Edwards Entrance Scholar and an Art Center Outreach Grant recipient, was also named the 2010 Student Designer of the Year,[8] and from which he received a degree in Environmental Design.[9][10]
After graduation, he joined Tim Kobe's Eight Inc.[de] in Singapore, before continuing his studies at the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ÉCAL), where he earned a master's of advanced studies in Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship.[11][12][13]
Archibong began exhibiting his work at the Milan Furniture Fair in the mid-2010s. His 2016 furniture collection titled "The Secret Garden" was produced with the support of the actor Terry Crews.[14][15] This was followed by several exhibitions of his furniture designs for Sé Collections at the Rossana Orlandi gallery.[16][17] He began an ongoing collaboration with the Knoll furniture company in 2018 creating designs such as the "Iquo Cafe Collection".[18] In 2019 Hermès began marketing Archibong's "Galop d'Hermès" wristwatch.[19][11] In 2020, Archibong started working on the creation of sculptural pieces for a solo exhibition at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York.[20]
In 2019, along with business development collaborations with Benjamin de Haan, Archibong founded L.M.N.O. CREATIVE, a multi-disciplinary design collective. The collective includes fellow graduates from Pasadena's ArtCenter, Jori Brown and Maxwell Engelmann, as well as designer Ebony Lerandy, who studied under Archibong at ÉCAL.[27]
In 2023, Archibong began working with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg on the concept, packaging, and graphic identity for a new brand to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1993 single Gin and Juice. The resulting products include a canned alcoholic drink brand called "Gin & Juice" that was released in 2024. The design features an "explicit content" Parental Advisory logo and illustrations by the artist Wayne Johnson.[28][29][30][31][32] A Venetian glass bottle design for a gin called "Still G.I.N.", a reference to Dr Dre's 1999 single Still D.R.E., was released later in the same year.[33] In 2025, Archibong was named creative director of Gin & Juice, "where he'll oversee graphic identity, design language, future packaging concepts and visual presentation for the brand."[34] Other clients include companies such as de Sede, Bernhardt Design, Diageo, and Logitech.[35][36][37][38][39]
Awards and exhibitions
Artifact #VII by Archibong and Tsugaru Nuri lacquer exhibited in the Victoria and Albert museum
He is the recipient of the ICFF Studio Award, Best of NeoCon Silver, International Woodworking Fair's Design Emphasis Award, ICFF's American Student Designer of the Year Award, and the 2019 Elle Deco American Design Award.[40][26] In 2019, he received Distinguished Alumni awards from both ArtCenter and Polytechnic in his hometown of Pasadena.[41][42]
His design for a Pavilion of the African Diaspora (PoAD) won the Best Design Medal at the London Design Biennale at Somerset House in June 2021.[46][47] In the same year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET)[48] in New York acquired his "Orion" table, "Atlas" chair and "Vernus 3" chandelier for its Afrofuturist Period Room.[49]
Museum visitor interacting with the theremin element of Artefact VII at the Victoria and Albert museum Prince Consort Gallery
A collaboration between Archibong and Tsugaru NuriJapanese lacquerware was unveiled at an exhibition called Craft x Tech Tohoku Project at Kudan House in Tokyo (2024).[62] Described as a "musical instrument in the form of a large organic pod-shaped sculpture ... [that] emits otherworldly electronic sounds when human hands hover above its lacquered surfaces", the piece and the exhibition itself seeks to marry heritage master-crafts techniques with contemporary technology.[63] The show was curated by Maria Cristina Didero, and also included works by Sabine Marcelis, Studio Swine, Yoichi Ochiai, Michael Young, and Hideki Yoshimoto.[64][65][66] The work was also exhibited in the Prince Consort Gallery of the V&A London.[67][68][69]
Writing
The New York Times published an essay by Archibong titled "Ini Archibong: What We Believe About Storytelling" in 2021.[70] The essay is part of a series called The Big Ideas: What Do We Believe,[71] which also includes essays by Agnes Callard, Garry Kasparov, T.M. Luhrmann, Harry Reid, and Carlo Rovelli, among others. This work was later published in a compendium titled Question Everything: A Stone Reader.[72]
Publications
Speechless: different by design. Schleuning, Sarah (2019). Dallas Museum of Art, High Museum of Art. Shapco Printing, Dallas, Texas. ISBN978-0-300-24703-9. OCLC1139707385
Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room. Ian Alteveer, Hannah Beachler, Sarah E. Lawrence, (2022). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. ISBN978-1-58839-745-4
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