Born in Bamako, Mali and trained as an architect and designer in Paris Cheick Diallo’s studio in Bamako is on the hills in its suburbs where a multitude of artisans manufacture domestic objects from salvage materials: old tyres, bottle tops, cans, computer batteries etc. in an organised chaos and the use of just-in-time methods.

Both creator, experimentator, trainer and manager, Diallo produces there design projects that talk about this specific design process and realise with his teams furniture and objects of impeccable finish that play ambiguously with the notion of luxury. He uses for instance soft drinks cans that were ‘sculpted’ by the wheels of the big trucks going from Bamako to Douala, were polished by the sun and rusted by the rains. Cleaned and chosen carefully each for their unique shapes, they become the main materials for a series of furniture that was conceived, lacquered and welded with infinite care. Each piece is unique.

Cheick Diallo was part of the seminal exhibition ‘Africa Remix’ which has been travelling since 2005 from Düsseldorf (Museum Kunst Palast), London (Hayward Gallery), Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou), Tokyo (Mori Museum) and finally Johannesburg (Johannesburg Art Gallery). He has had regular exhibitions at the Milan Furniture Fair and prestigious galleries such as Spazzio Rossana Orlandi. He is also a regular guest at Design Biennales all over the world.