Salù Iwadi Studio's Gèlèdé Lamp Collection Explores Light Through Yoruba and Malagasy Heritage

Designers Toluwalase Rufai and Sandia Nassila of Salù Iwadi Studio have created the Gèlèdé Lamp Collection, a series of three handcrafted lighting objects that explore light through cultural and maternal frameworks. The collection draws from Yoruba traditions, where light (Ìmólè) represents hope, ancestral presence, and guidance, as well as matrilineal systems from Madagascar and the Comoros. Each lamp features carved oak vessels symbolizing the womb, calabash, and the Yoruba concept of orí (the head as seat of destiny), pierced by sand-cast brass spirals that filter and release light with measured intensity. The pieces are crafted between Lagos, where brass is sand-cast, and Marrakesh, where wood is carved, blending distinct African craft traditions. Rufai, who grew up within Yoruba Gèlèdé ceremonies honoring elder women's authority, and Nassila, from Malagasy and Comorian backgrounds, describe the work as a living framework for returning to cultural knowledge. The collection represents an inward turn for the studio, focusing on domestic objects that shape how spaces feel after dark. The designers emphasize that their practice involves an active relationship with heritage, using design to preserve memory and articulate identity. The lamps were featured in Wallpaper*'s January New Gen issue, where Rufai and Nassila were named Future Icons.