From Open Call to Museum Collection
A side table inspired by West African ritual traveled from Lagos to Denver, landing in a major U.S. museum. What that journey reveals about discovery, storytelling, and how design moves in 2025.
Last month, we announced that the Zangbeto Side Table by Salù Iwadi Studio was acquired by the Denver Art Museum. This is the story of how we found each other through an open call, how storytelling can carry a piece across audiences and contexts, and how it found its way into a museum.
Discovery
Hosting open calls for Exhibitions are not glamorous. They mean days of sifting through PDFs, clunky websites, and Instagram profiles. It’s time-consuming work. But when curating, we believe in the value of getting out of our own algorithm and network and so, it is worth it.
For Outside/In, our New York Design Week exhibition with Hello Human, we received more than 200 submissions from artists and designers across the world, with only 12 ultimately selected.
One of them was Salù Iwadi Studio. On our first call, designers Toluwalase Rufai in Lagos and Sandia Nassila in Dakar shared a short black-and-white film of the Zangbeto masquerade. In the film, towering figures cloaked in raffia spun across the ground, sometimes in steady rotations, other times wild and frenzied. They explained that the Zangbeto, translated as “guardians of the night,” are part of the Ogu people’s traditions in Benin and Togo. They are protectors, spiritual intermediaries, and community guardians.
Their proposed piece, the Zangbeto Side Table, translated this ritual into contemporary design. Its shape echoed the raffia costumes, with layered wooden fins spiraling upward like the bodies in motion. The tabletop rippled with hand-carved ridges, referencing the vibrations of the dance. Even at rest, the side table felt alive, with light casting shadows through its fins and carrying the energy of a centuries-old tradition into a new form. It was a perfect fit for the exhibition.
Resonance
From the beginning, we asked ourselves: how might Outside/In reach beyond our gallery walls? At 24 Rutgers Street in Chinatown, physical foot traffic is limited, so we decided to experiment with digital foot traffic.
We built a campaign called If you walked into the gallery right now, this is what we’d tell you. Each short video replicated the moment when a visitor asks, “Can you tell me about this piece?” The Zangbeto Side Table video reached nearly 100,000 views on TikTok. Many who saw it might never have stepped into the gallery otherwise, but some came to our space saying, “I saw this table on TikTok and had to see it in person.” A few even told us it was their first-ever gallery visit. That felt like a real win.
The story resonated offline too. Anna Kodè from The New York Times joined our opening breakfast (bagels > cocktails) and later published a feature on the show, including a photograph of Sandia standing in front of the Zangbeto Side Table. We ask every visitor how they found us, and during the run of Outside/In, nearly everyone mentioned TikTok or The New York Times.
Museum Acquisition
During Design Week in May, we got a DM from Dylan, an old friend of Lin’s from freshman year at FIT. He and his husband, Darrin, who happens to be the curator of design at the Denver Art Museum, were in town and wanted to stop by the show. Yes, please.
When we walked them through the exhibition, we paused at the Zangbeto Side Table. After watching the short film Sandia and Tolu had shared, Darrin immediately connected with the piece. He spoke about the museum’s commitment to expanding its collection with works from across Africa and the African diaspora. He handed over his business card and soon after, conversations with the museum began.
After a few weeks of back and forth with their team, and final board approval, the Zangbeto Side Table shipped from Lagos to Colorado and officially joined the Denver Art Museum’s permanent collection.
Why This Story Matters
Bringing new voices into design requires more than relying on familiar circles. Open calls, while imperfect, can open doors for artists and designers who might otherwise remain outside the echo chamber. With care and intention, they can be career-changing for everyone involved.
This story also shows the power of storytelling: when you can clearly explain what a piece is, where it comes from, and why it matters, it resonates across contexts—whether with a curator, a journalist, or someone scrolling on TikTok.
And acquisitions matter. At a time when acquisitions are rarer, Denver’s decision is part of a steady commitment to collecting contemporary designers from young galleries—joining works like Monica Curiel’s La Mari Chair and Kim Mupangilaï’s Brazza Screen. It’s how institutions expand the canon in real time.
We haven’t yet been to the Denver Art Museum, but when we do, we’ll go straight to that side table. We can’t wait to take a selfie in front of it, send it to Sandia and Tolu, and thank them for the opportunity to share their work in this way.
And in New York, another lives in our bedroom, where it greets us each morning—an everyday reminder of their vision and of the centuries-old ritual that shaped it.
For those who wish to join that story, the Zangbeto Side Table is available through Lyle Gallery at info@thelyle.gallery, shipping directly from Lagos.