Alongside an academic teaching career at the Bartlett and AA, the British-Ghanaian designer draws on his heritage for installation work that is rooted in West African craft and ritual, exploring inanimate objects and the human processes that interact with them
Photography courtesy of Giles Tettey Nartey
Interview by Shawn Adams
ICON: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Giles Tettey Nartey: I’m a British-Ghanaian designer, researcher and architect. I was born in south London but spent almost a decade of my early life in Ghana. Deciding to study architecture was a reconciliation of my interest in art as a social practice. After studying at the Politecnico di Milano and completing a master’s at the Bartlett School of Architecture, I qualified as an architect and started a PhD. Currently, I am a design tutor and lecturer at the Bartlett and Architecture Association.
ICON: How does your Ghanaian heritage inform your work as a designer?
GTN: My heritage is an anchor for my research-based practice which spans curation, filmmaking and furniture design. My project Ayie, which is deeply rooted in traditional West African cultures, was an installation that carefully touched on the above themes. Lastly, my heritage acts as point of departure when translating rituals into design objects.
ICON: Tell me about Interplay. How did this project come about?
GTN: Interplay was developed from my design PhD research and was first exhibited at the London Design Festival in 2023. The piece is an exploration of Ghanaian craft and ritual, the inanimate and the human processes that animate. The work reimagines a traditional West African bench-bed as a tactile skin, rooted in narratives. Interplay proposes a performative interaction, as it embeds the Ghanaian game of Oware within its form. This creates a spatial negotiation between the game, communal bench and daybed.
Photography courtesy of Giles Tettey Nartey
ICON: You co-run a diploma at the AA and are a design tutor at the Bartlett and are currently doing a PhD there. How do you think teaching and academia influence your practice?
GTN: My practice seeds from critical research, which makes academia instrumental in how I manifest my objects. Teaching allows me to set agendas that challenge the canon and highlight the importance of alternative voices. I am proud of producing students who are well versed in a decentred discourse. I aim to always teach, research and practise as both an architect and designer.
ICON: Who are some of the designers that you admire?
GTN: First and foremost, I hold immense admiration for my uncle T-Michael, who has been both a mentor and a source of inspiration throughout my career. I am particularly drawn to creators who address socio-political themes in their work, offering a platform for engagement both at a theoretical and practical level. In this regard, artists like Theaster Gates, John Akomfrah, Hew Locke and Magdalene Odundo resonate profoundly with me. Each, in their unique way, articulates a narrative that challenges and enriches our understanding of societal constructs.
ICON: Who else inspires you?
GTN: The work of my contemporaries and peers such as Nana Biamah-Ofosu, with her research and explorations in tropical modernism, and Issi Nanabeyin, with his continuous sculptural exploration of hybrid identities, command my admiration. Their contributions to the field not only demonstrate the breadth and diversity of contemporary design and art but also reinforce the importance of cultural and theoretical discourse within our practice.
ICON: What is next for you?
GTN: I have a series of new works which talk about object, context and use. My next piece is the Serwaa Stool, which is a contemporary manifestation of the traditional Lobi chair. After that, I will be dropping a series of architectural interventions in Accra which reimagine the food kiosk, the market and how produce is sold on the street.
For more information, visit gilestetteynartey.com. Get a curated collection of design and architecture news in your inbox by signing up to our ICON Weekly newsletter
