About This Book
ILÉ AYÉ is the second chapter in an ongoing collaboration between OK-RM, the London graphic design studio founded by Oliver Knight and Rory McGrath, and EXTRALESS, the practice of Nigerian brothers Badé and Tokunbo Fontana.
At its centre is the Ilewo Rammed Earth Initiative, a project in Ilewo Orile—a rural community in Ogun State, Nigeria—that treats earth construction as a means of cultural, ecological and architectural consolidation rather than as a technical curiosity. The book records the initiative's beginnings: the material itself, the people building with it, and the argument that a building method can carry a community's claim on its own future.
Running alongside this is a second strand concerned with tools for live performance, and the book holds both without collapsing one into the other. The result reads less as documentation than as a working argument about what design practice can be when it is rooted in a specific place. Published to accompany an exhibition in London.
Key Features
- Second publication in the OK-RM and EXTRALESS collaboration
- Documents the launch of the Ilewo Rammed Earth Initiative in Ogun State, Nigeria
- Published alongside a London exhibition
- Designed by OK-RM, whose book work is held in design collections internationally
What You'll Discover
- Rammed earth construction approached as cultural infrastructure, not just technique
- How a graphic design studio and a fashion-adjacent practice work on architecture together
- The relationship between built work, performance and the objects that support it
- A model for design practice grounded in a particular rural community
About the Author
OK-RM was founded in 2008 by Oliver Knight and Rory McGrath. The London studio works across art, architecture and publishing, and its own titles include A Meaningful Order.
EXTRALESS is the practice of Badé Fontana and Tokunbo Fontana, Nigerian brothers based in London, working between fashion, objects and the built environment.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Dimensions: 235 x 158 mm
- Pages: 304
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781919211817
- Publisher: InOtherWords
- Publication Date: June 2026
Perfect For
Architects and students working with earth construction and low-carbon materials; readers following contemporary African design practice; and followers of OK-RM's publishing. Pairs well with A Meaningful Order.