Story

Meet: Amayo Duke

Three rectangular crochet panels in progress are displayed side by side on a white surface. The panels feature abstract color patterns in red, black, cream, green, blue, gray, and white, with numerous loose yarn ends extending from the edges, highlighting the unfinished nature of the textile work. The center panel has a bold cream and black pattern on a red background, while the left and right panels show different sections of the overall design. Bright, even lighting and a plain background keep the focus on the handcrafted crochet pieces.

Written byEleanor Harvey
Published date 27 July 2026

Amayo Duke is a multidisciplinary creative and storyteller from Nigeria with a background in filmmaking and entrepreneurship. A 2024 graduate of London College of Fashion's, UAL MA Fashion Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Amayo’s work explores how storytelling and craft can create immersive ways of engaging with culture and history.

With projects such as Community, an interactive crochet puzzle; and Conduit, a digital archive documenting the history of the Efik people and the masquerade traditions of the Ekpe society, Amayo explores Nigerian cultural knowledge through play. “Cultural storytelling is a form of education that is sorely missing from contemporary Nigeria” says Amayo, “we don't know our own history largely due to colonisation and that means that, often, a lot of our culture is either demonised or left behind.”

Amayo spoke to us about her work, her time at LCF and exhibiting her work at London College of Communication, UAL (LCC).

Head-and-shoulders portrait of Amayo standing against a plain white background. The person is wearing a light blue and white striped button-up shirt, small gold earrings, and a gold necklace with a shell-shaped pendant. Hair is styled in neat braids pulled back from the face. The image is evenly lit with a simple, uncluttered composition that focuses attention on the subject. — **Amayo Duke**

Can you tell us a bit about you and your background.

My name is Amayo Duke and I’m a multidisciplinary creative from Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. I’ve started to describe myself as a creator and consumer of worlds because I really love storytelling. My educational/professional background is in filmmaking, and I’ve founded a handmade accessories brand called Southern Pantherrr in 2015. My experience with that led me to study what would be my fourth degree and third master’s at LCF.

You graduated in 2024 from LCF with an MA in Fashion Entrepreneurship and Innovation. What drew you to the course? And what was a highlight from your time at LCF?

I always said that if I was ever going to go back to school, it would be LCF.

My parents had multiple businesses from a VHS rental store to a small hotel, so I think, growing up I naturally absorbed that entrepreneurial fearlessness. Having started a brand that got hit hard during the pandemic, I thought it was time to get some formal business education.

What attracted me to the course the most is its entrepreneurial path and developing a business idea the entire time. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on something, test it and get access to real time feedback. The entire ethos of the course is to learn by doing and that's exactly the way my brain likes to work. It was a perfect fit.

The biggest highlight for me was all the ways I got to push myself and put myself out there. I created a podcast as part of the course that culminated in a live panel, and I also took part in the LCF Hackathon. Throughout I was able to make connections and collaborate with staff, alumni, fellow students and independent brand owners. This was largely because I stayed open and said yes to a lot and it gave me a lot of confidence for the ‘real’ world.

Two participants assemble a large collaborative crochet artwork on a gallery wall. The artwork consists of multiple bright blue crocheted square panels arranged in a grid, with some panels forming part of a larger image depicting a red, cream, black, and white masquerade-inspired figure. One participant reaches up to position a panel while another stands nearby holding a reference image. Below the installation, a table displays a printed guide, a small crocheted sculpture, and exhibition materials. The photograph highlights the scale, modular construction, and community-led creation of the textile artwork within a contemporary exhibition space. — **Community on display at the Speaking from the Margins: Black History Month exhibition at London College of Communication, UAL**

Close-up detail of crochet artwork composed of multiple square panels joined together. The textile image features bold abstract shapes in red, cream, black, white, grey, and blue yarn, creating a textured graphic design against a bright blue background. Visible seams between the panels emphasize the modular construction of the work, while the crocheted stitches add depth and a handcrafted quality to the image. — **Close-up of Community, on display at the Speaking from the Margins: Black History Month exhibition at London College of Communication, UAL**

Last year, your piece ‘Community’ was exhibited in London College of Communication’s exhibition Speaking from the Margins: Black History Month. Can you tell us more about the piece?

It's so interesting because 'Community' came to me in bits and that feels apt for the piece itself. Coming off all the research I’d done for my dissertation, I had all these ideas around educating through interactivity and that's largely how the piece was born. I unearthed all this research that said how important interactivity is to retain information and I wanted to explore that theory with live, in-person experiences.

Community is a 20 piece crochet puzzle that is roughly 3ft by 4ft in size. It took me roughly three weeks to crochet all the panels. There is a surprising amount of maths and calculation involved in this process. Each panel has two magnets (which I had to learn a lot about) at the back and there are these slightly corrugated iron sheets that are mounted to the wall in a grid. That's the mechanism of the puzzle; an iron grid accompanying textile panels you can snap on to them to build the puzzle.

Community is my attempt to reimagine culture in a modern context through play. How can I teach about culture and the importance of these crafts that are disappearing while also making it a fun, memorable group activity? It’s built as a group activity because I want people to reflect on the concept of people (community) coming together to build culture piece by piece but, people are also welcome to build it alone as well.

I chose crochet as the medium because it's a time consuming handmade process that is not yet replicable mechanically and I knew people would understand the time and effort required; it’s intended as a direct mirror for the effort local craftspeople put into the making of cultural artifacts.

Visitors interact with a collaborative textile artwork in a gallery setting. One person reaches toward a wall-mounted installation made up of brightly coloured crocheted panels in blue, red, white, and green, arranged among small metallic textured squares. Several other visitors stand nearby observing the work. In the foreground, a table displays additional crocheted panels, printed materials, and a small textile sculpture. White walls, contemporary lighting, and a colourful painting in the background create an exhibition environment focused on community participation and textile art. — **Community on display at the Speaking from the Margins: Black History Month exhibition at London College of Communication, UAL**

Why do you think cultural storytelling is so important?

At its heart, cultural storytelling is a form of education that is sorely missing from contemporary Nigeria. A lot of our history and narratives have been framed in a colonised lens and growing globalisation through technology is homogenising culture. Not to use too many buzz words but, we don't know our own history largely due to colonisation and that means that often, a lot of our culture is either demonised or left behind.

Culture, good or bad is always made in community and I hope through my pieces, I can build a path for re-imagination and reconnection in younger generations.

You’re also the founder of Conduit, a digital heritage project. Can you tell us more about this.

Conduit is a digital archive originally created as part of the fulfilment of my MA at LCF. It is an online archive documenting the history of the Efik tribe of Calabar, Nigeria and the masquerade practices of the Ekpe society. A significant but secret society, its influence and traditions have spread to countries like Cameroon, Brazil and Cuba.

By creating this digital archive, I want to decentralise cultural knowledge around the society and its masquerades. Conduit holds audio recordings of oral history that I recorded personally from cultural leaders and members of the society. It also contains photos and 3D interactive models made of some of the masquerades through photogrammetry. I hope to continue to expand the archive to include video of ceremonial practices, dances and traditional music. It is an ongoing project that I understand will take quite a few years to complete.

A gallery-style display of handcrafted textile masquerade figures arranged in a large wooden shelving unit with eighteen compartments. Each figure is uniquely decorated with crocheted, woven, and fringed materials in vibrant red, black, cream, gold, blue, pink, and purple tones. Several figures have visible nameplates, including “NNABO,” “IYABOM,” “AFIA ANWAN,” “OKUKIM,” “UMAN OKPO,” “IREME,” “ATAT ITAT,” “ATEMTEM,” “OTONYOM,” “MKPOKPORO,” “IDEM EDESI,” “OKPO IKAK,” “IBOM,” and “IBO.” A larger red, black, and cream textile figure stands on the floor in the foreground beside a potted plant. The display is set within a modern interior featuring light wood finishes, pendant lighting, framed wall art, and a side table with glass bottles. The image combines traditional masquerade-inspired forms with contemporary exhibition presentation. — **Conduit on display at the Masquerade Gallery, Amayo Duke**

What's next for you?

I’m a storyteller at heart and so I’m exploring ways to do that through theatre and film. I am currently working on a small two hander play and looking into adapting a classic Nigerian novel for the screen. I’m also still looking to exhibit Community, and I plan to experiment with how immersive tools like haptics and AR can enhance physical exhibitions.

Ultimately, I want to explore how immersive technologies can help create multi-sensory experiences that engage audiences with cultural heritage. Whether that's screen, stage or at live events, I want to see how far I can push interactivity and immersion in how I tell and present stories.