Cheick Diallo was born in Mali and trained and worked as an architect and designer in Paris before returning to Bamako in 2004 to found Diallo Design Studio. The studio set about refining the already established practise of ‘upcycling’ in furniture design, creating critically acclaimed pieces out of items as varied as fishing wire, bottle tops and tin-cans and fusing African and European aesthetics to stunning effect. Diallo was a pioneer of incorporating traditional craftsmanship with modern materials and his pieces now sit in homes, galleries and museums around the world.