The Living Room begins with a single object: the Jimaa Waaqa Chieftain Chair. It is a seat of governance, a material record of authority, and an object that refuses to be read as decoration. It was made to be sat in by someone who held power — and it carries that weight in every joint, every carved surface, every proportion.
This collection asks a simple question: what does it mean to furnish a room from a position of sovereignty? Not the sovereignty of ownership, but the sovereignty of a people who built their own worlds, on their own terms, long before anyone arrived to tell them otherwise.
The Jimaa Waaqa chair originates from the Jimaa region of southwestern Ethiopia — a kingdom with a documented history of sophisticated governance, trade, and material culture. The chair is a throne in the truest sense: an object whose form is inseparable from the political and spiritual authority of the person it was made for.
Its construction reflects a deep knowledge of wood — how it moves, how it holds weight, how it ages. The joinery is designed to last across generations. This is not an object made for a single lifetime.
Jimaa Waaqa Chieftain Chair
The Jimaa Waaqa chair is not furniture in the Western sense — it is a seat of authority, a material expression of governance and spiritual standing. Its form encodes rank: the height of the back, the treatment of the armrests, the weight of the wood all speak to the position of the one who sits in it.
The Kingdom of Jimaa
Jimaa was one of the Gibe states of southwestern Ethiopia — a confederation of kingdoms that flourished from the 18th century onward. It was known for its coffee trade, its sophisticated court culture, and its material production. The Jimaa Waaqa chair is a product of that court.
Authority in Form
In many African governance traditions, the seat of a chief or king is not merely symbolic — it is the physical locus of authority. To sit in the chair is to occupy the office. The object and the power it represents are not separable.
The Living Room
The title of this collection is deliberate. A living room is where a household receives guests, conducts its social life, and presents itself to the world. This collection asks: what does it look like when that room is furnished entirely from African sovereignty?
"This chair was not made to be looked at. It was made to hold someone who held a world."
— House of Oye
A short film from the evening — the room, the objects, the people who came to be in it.
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