SHE has always found herself in men’s shoes. First she studied Accountancy at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, which used to be exclusive to men until now. Again, she delved into furniture, which, is said meant for men, where she has made a lot of impact with her style and creativity. With experience in the furniture industry dating as far back as 1981, Ifeyinwa Ighodalo has worked in and run various furniture manufacturing and interior design companies, including Conita, Casafina Furniture Company and Design Options, which she co-founded. An icon in the Nigerian manufacturing and interior design, Ifeyinwa has set out to reinvent through the DO.11. In this interview, she spoke about life, style, crea­tivity and the rest.

Have you ever practiced as an accountant?

I practiced during my Youth Corps and after that I knew I was not going to do anything with it.

How did you know that you were not going to use your accounting certificate?

I am this kind of person that gets bored very easily, so when I practiced the accountancy in the bank, I discovered I was doing the same thing over and over again, there was no creativity. At a time I realised I am creative. That was what did it for me, so I needed something that will challenge me.

What inspired you into furniture business?

I decided to start manufacturing furniture over 25 years ago because I was interested in creating beautiful spaces. I wanted spaces that could be compared with any similar space anywhere in the world and I found that the offerings in Nigeria were not of that standard, so I decided to just go ahead and start producing what I needed according to international trends, standard and quality.

Usually, furniture mak­ing is a business meant for men, as a woman why did you decide to go into it?

My father was very instrumental in this journey. I am his first child, he wanted a son but I came, and as soon as he got over the initial disappointment, he then focused his energy in raising me as his first son. I was told of the fact that he had two other sons after me.

Does style go beyond fashion?

Yes.

What has been the story behind the brand in the last 25 years?

We started the journey as design options, manufac­turing locally to global standards. We have continued that process into deal too but the rebranding and the refreshing of the brand came about few years ago. We wanted the company to look different. That was one of the factors that that we decided rebranding. We are more of a home furniture and interior solution provider, now we have delved into corporate. As you can see from our previous lines we have done a lot of corporate work in the past two years. It is not that we are no longer focus­ing on the residential furniture because the corporate work we do is both office and residential. Because it is a new area for us there has been more of a push in that direction so that it can catch up and hopefully surpass the residential furniture.

What are the challenges you face in this business?

All businesses have their challenges. One of my challenges is power. Initially when we started, it wasn’t power. I remember when we would run generator for 2 hours in a day and the rest of the time we were on NEPA before it became what it is called today. It is not just because of the provision of power we can provide our power but the cost of providing that power is where the problem is because naturally it would affect our cost. I am just imagining what business you can run with­out power. But furniture manufacturing especially in the factory is power intensive. You need a lot of power for the machines that produce the furniture. Human resources have also been a challenge; the challenges of getting the right caliber of people with the right work ethics. But again we have overcome that by becoming creative in our recruitment. We have to become creative in our training and ensuring that when people come in what we do is that we train in- house a lot. And we are now more than ever insisting that the corporate culture is imbibed by whomever we bring in. So with the com­bination of that we actually find out that it is actually working.

What has been your staying power?

One of the things that keeps me going is I take pride in my work. I love what I do. So I was one of those few who were lucky earlier on in life to know what I wanted to do. I have friends who had been in banking for 20 years then they now suddenly come out and start their passion. I was lucky to identify my passion at a very early age so all I needed to do was just to go with it. Because it is what I enjoy doing that has helped me to stay doing it. And to add on to that when I hear people talk to me about our furniture, our interiors, the work we have done, even people I don’t know, it gives me a great sense of pride. The fact that it is locally produced with a local workforce, locally sourced materials; it is an extra pride for me. I am very Nigerian. I travel all over the world but I am happiest in Nigeria. I have been to showcase and win awards based on what I manu­factured. One of the awards I won was for the interior space of my home when we built and we (the company) designed from ceiling to floor. For me, I could have imported furniture to put in that place but as a sense of pride, and as a sense of identity I made sure that every single piece of furniture was produced by us, so that I could stand up and say this is what I do. So that has helped. Again I will say, like they do say, success is not lack of failure, it is how many times that you get up when you fall. There have been times that things were rough but my stubbornness kept me going.

How do handle competition?

Our unique selling point is that we are an interior solution provider; furniture is one of the things we do. So, I think that sort of dif­ferentiate us from everybody else. We provide interior solutions from floor to ceilings.

What is your signature de­sign?

Classic elegance is my signature sign.

As an interior designer what comes into your mind when you walks into an empty room?

It depends. If I walk into an empty space what comes into my mind is, what could the client want and that is where I will start.

What inspires you?

Happy clients; I like to make my clients happy.

What is style to you?

Style, to me, is you know yourself, you are true to yourself and you wear what makes you comfortable. If you don’t know yourself you won’t know what your style is.

Does style go beyond fash­ion?

Yes.

Why is it necessary to bring style into furniture and proba­bly homes?

For me, I am very home oriented. My home matters a lot to me; my family matters a lot to me. So, if you come into my home, I am very minimalistic very simple. That is who I am. If you come into my home you will sort of know me better. It is a haven. I like beautiful things. I like comfort. For instance, when I was creating our home I wanted it to be simple, elegant but above all I wanted it to be comfortable. I like something that flows naturally like a river without obstacles. So even the style of the furnishing people have commented on it is the flow of the space that is the aesthetic as well as the comfort. The colours smoothen. If you are an interior design and you are going to furnish for me, those are the things that should appear.

Twelve years after you re­ceived the St Moritz Style Award as The Woman of the Year, you are still looking trendy. What is the secret?

It is the grace of God there is nothing else. I have supplemented the grace of God. It was God that decided my gene. My mum until she died at 76, looked like a woman in her late 50s, early 60. This turban I wear, I learnt it from my mother in 1968, and I was eight years old when she started tying me turban. So, it is the grace of God, my parentage, peace of mind and I sleep a lot. I also exercise and I say that to everybody. Exercise deal with all the cholesterol in the body and it keeps your body working. That is the difference between young children and us; young children are always running around, then the older we are the more we slow down. And then a good healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetable helps. Just try and keep balance. Go to church. Try and live a good Christian life.

Which is your favourite loca­tion?

Bahamas Islands. I love anywhere there is water.

How do you relax?

Primarily, what I love most is being around my family, it relaxes me. Then because most of my children are grown and in their own homes, I am not able to spend as much time with them, so I travel when I can. I love watching movies. I read and I exercises. That is a great form of relaxation for me; doing exercises.

What kind of books do you read?

I like fiction. I like self -motivational books.