At this year’s Design Week Lagos, one of the continent’s most influential gatherings for designers and architects, Bolarin Okunowo of Chemical and Allied Products PLC (CAP) used her keynote session to raise a simple but urgent point: Africa’s built environment needs smarter, cleaner and more responsible materials.
Speaking on the theme Colour, Materials & Innovation in Our Built Environment, the CAP Managing Director challenged industry professionals to rethink the products they use. She argued that design across Africa can no longer focus on visual appeal alone, and that the continent must embrace materials that support healthier and more sustainable living conditions.
Okunowo pointed to CAP’s recent work with Dulux as an example of how the industry can shift. She discussed the company’s investment in low-VOC coatings, which improve indoor air quality and align with global green building standards. She also spoke about the Dulux Tint-Base System, introduced in 2022, which gives customers instant access to thousands of colours across stores in Nigeria.
In her remarks, she spent time on a topic that often goes unnoticed in design conversations: surface preparation. She highlighted CAP’s Caplux Surface Prep range and explained that a good paint finish depends heavily on what happens before colour even touches the wall. Well-prepared surfaces, she noted, allow colours to show accurately and last longer.
The keynote also included a look at CAP’s updated Dulux e-commerce platform. The platform is designed to make paint selection and ordering easier for both professionals and homeowners, expanding access to quality products without requiring physical store visits. For Okunowo, digital access is a necessary part of encouraging more people to make sustainable choices in their projects.
Beyond materials and technology, Okunowo returned to a theme that consistently shapes CAP’s public conversations: colour as a tool of expression. She spoke about the role colour plays in influencing mood, identity and even how people experience a space. According to her, Dulux’s long-standing research into how light, climate and culture interact with colour helps customers choose shades that reflect their lives more accurately.
Throughout the week at Livespot Entertainium, CAP hosted an interactive booth featuring its latest products, colour tools and sustainability-focused innovations. The company also held business sessions with designers, discussing topics including colour psychology, climate-responsive design and the importance of preparing surfaces correctly.
This year marks CAP PLC’s second partnership with Design Week Lagos. While the company continues to highlight its products, its presence this year felt more focused on steering a wider conversation. The message was consistent: Africa’s design future will depend on materials that are healthier, smarter and more intentional, and the industry must take that shift seriously.
