Jare Olukotun
The Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, H&Y Furniture Manufacturers Limited, recently engaged design professionals, industry stakeholders, and creative entrepreneurs on her core business philosophy, “Structure is the New Creative.” which has made her company an innovative and leading modular company in Nigeria.
She spoke at the Business of Interior Design Masterclass hosted by VickyHeldan, and the prestigious Lagos Leather Fair 2025, emphasizing the importance of structure and standardisation on the future of the industry.
The events took place on June 28, 2025, in Lagos.
Drawing from her over 30 years of experience, leading one of Nigeria’s most respected modular furniture companies, Mrs. Abiru shared how H&Y Furniture Manufacturers (formerly Home & You) transitioned from a small furniture-making initiative into a structured, scalable production enterprise.
She outlined how modularity, standardisation, and systems thinking have enabled H&Y to meet the growing demands of clients across the real estate, banking, education, government, and hospitality sectors in Nigeria.
Highlighting the company’s product line, which includes modular wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, doors, office workstations, reception counters, conference tables, and educational furniture — Mrs. Abiru emphasised the importance of pre-engineered templates and factory-grade consistency.
According to her, at the core of H&Y’s success is its Ikorodu-based manufacturing facility and the H&Y EPIIC Academy, which trains a new generation of skilled furniture professionals guided by the company’s values: Excellence, Partnership, Innovation, Integrity, and Customer Care.
Speaking to a hall of architects, interior designers, and design enthusiasts at the masterclass in Lekki, Lagos, Abiru challenged the notion that structure stifles creativity. Instead, she showed how it amplifies it—offering leather designers and creative entrepreneurs’ practical insights on scaling production through cataloguing, workflow documentation, and systematised pricing.
At the Lagos Leather Fair, where the conversation explored whether “Made in Africa” is a movement or a mirage, her presence underscored the fact that sustainable local manufacturing is not only possible—but already happening.
“We don’t just manufacture, we build systems that scale. Structure is how creativity becomes impact.” She said.
Her presentations at both events reinforced H&Y’s position as a national leader in modular furniture manufacturing and a blueprint for what is possible when vision meets process in Nigeria’s evolving design ecosystem.
