Statement from ỌKPARA HOUSE©
In light of the current racial crises sweeping through our nation and by extension throughout the global diaspora particularly across the West, a long existing void has been laid bare before our eyes for all to see. Our project for Ọkpara House takes on a particularly significant meaning in the area of content production. Everyone where possible bears a responsibility to do their part to build a better and fairer society where inclusion and equity is a right and not a privilege reserved for the few.
Today, many brave souls are out on the streets risking their lives to bring awareness to this void through peaceful protests. As creatives and storytellers, we bear a particular responsibility to create beautiful, meaningful and engaging content that fills in this void. Before our lives in the diaspora, we had a history. Largely ignored and forgotten, it is our aim to reinstate and make relevant our beautiful culture.
At Ọkpara House, it is our primary aim to produce such content and as such, we are proud producers of Igbo Cultural content elevated and made relevant to contemporary lifestyles.
Who We Are
ỌKPARA HOUSE© produces Igbo content through design objects, prints, and various media. Okpara in the Igbo language is a name associated with the eldest son and a de facto leader of his community. He is the custodian of wisdom to be passed down to the next generation.
Our Mission
at ỌKPARA HOUSE© is to harness the power of design, dialogue, and academic research as powerful agents to stimulate, reactive, elevate, and reimagine Igbo culture. We are reclaiming and asserting the relevance of Igbo culture on contemporary lifestyles within and beyond the Igbo community.
Inspiration behind the project
Our initial projects explore themes relevant to foundational structures of Igbo culture reimagined for contemporary lifestyles. Our projects will be a benchmark in quality and will contribute to ongoing efforts in preservation of Igbo culture in the diaspora and beyond.
- The lack of representation of the African within their own world and throughout the diaspora
- Normalizing our existence
- Omenala— Igbo Cosmology/Worldview
- Archival & academic Research expanded outside the realm of institutions
- Celebrating our diverse identities
About The founder
Founded by Obiora Nwazota, an architect from Nigeria, ỌKPARA HOUSE© is the long awaited second chapter in the exploration of Nigerian culture. Conceived from experiences garnered from Little Unicoco concept Restaurant, Nwazota’s first successful attempt at creating a culinary dining experience that elevated authentic Nigerian food culture. Since closing in 2017, Nwazota has spent that time working with creatives locally and across the globe on design objects, prints, and various media that reimagines Igbo culture seeping into all aspects of black African identity in ways never before seen today.
Our vision
for ỌKPARA HOUSE© is to become the place to tell OUR story.
It is a space of belonging, dialogue, and exchange. It is a place to be, a place to meet and an immersive experience of Igbo culture. The Igbos are one of the most recognized peoples yet like most indigenous and old world cultures they are at risk of losing their identity due in part to misplaced priorities by various stakeholders. The narratives we create today will fill in the void that exists in our story as humans.
The Way We work
As apart of the platform we are constantly driven by collaboration.
Currently on our team - Ebere Agwuncha is a part of the creative design team but is also a Producer with the Ọkpara House Platform. The creative team works on different projects for the platform. Find out how you can contribute or join a project with Ọkpara House below.
Collaborations With ỌKPARA HOUSE
Working with a breath of creatives, Okpara House is thankful for those they have collaborated with. Listed below are some organizations and people that we have worked with so far:
The Nascent Group, Lucie Van Der Elst, Span, Natasha Phicil, Raymond Lambert, Studio66 Designs, Jelgavas Tipogrāfija, Valdis Kaulins Imagine Studio & Obi “Soulstar” Uwakwe - ELECTRIQSOUL HIDEOUT Studio.
Ebere Agwuncha, Producer for Ọkpara House
Get In Touch.
Interested in working with Okpara House? Please send us an email with the subject line “Collaboration”. Attach any current work and a few sentences on how you envision a collaboration on our team. Or simply fill out the form below.