Emmanuel Olunkwa

Olunkwa was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA,{{Cite news|

last=Bull|first=Marian|date=2021-10-04|title=In New York, a Magazine Editor Who’s Also a Furniture Maker|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/t-magazine/emmanuel-olunknwa-pinup-design.html|access-date=2021-11-03|issn=0362-4331}} where he developed an early interest in photography during high school. His fascination with design was sparked by observing the evolving real estate landscape of his hometown and the elaborate remodels shaping its architectural identity.{{Cite news|last=Hawgood|first=Alex|date=2021-09-18|title=A Multifaceted Designer Gets a New Platform|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/style/emmanuel-olunkwa-pin-up-magazine.html|access-date=2022-02-01|issn=0362-4331}}

In 2014, Olunkwa moved to New York and later graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the Eugene Lang College at The New School with a concentration in Race, Art History, and Architectural Spatiality. During his final year, he interned at MoMA PS1 as a curatorial intern and later joined Artforum as a fact-checking intern, eventually becoming an editorial assistant, where he assisted the editor-in-chief David Velasco.{{Cite news|last=Bull|first=Marian|date=2021-10-04|title=In New York, a Magazine Editor Who’s Also a Furniture Maker|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/t-magazine/emmanuel-olunknwa-pinup-design.html|access-date=2022-02-01|issn=0362-4331}}

In 2021, he graduated with an M.S. in the Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices program from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. His graduate thesis examined the spatial dynamics of “Slave Play,” the Tony-nominated production by Jeremy O. Harris that explores themes of race and sexuality.{{Cite web|date=2018-03-05|title=This Artist Found His Voice By Digging Past The Surface|url=https://uproxx.com/life/new-school-art-fashion/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=UPROXX|language=en-US}}

Olunkwa has interviewed a diverse range of cultural figures, including artists and designers Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, and Marc Newson, curators Thelma Golden and Hamza Walker, architects Rem Koolhaas and Mabel O. Wilson, musicians Oneohtrix Point Never and Devonté Hynes, and writers Mary Gaitskill, Andrea Long Chu, Doreen St. Félix and Sarah Schulman among others.{{Cite web|title=November|url=https://www.novembermag.com/content/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=www.novembermag.com|language=en}} His photography has appeared in Dazed, Garage, Vogue, Cultured, and e-flux and spans across album covers, magazine profiles, and book covers.{{Cite web|date=2019-12-27|title=Natasha Stagg is Ready|url=https://www.culturedmag.com/natasha-stagg-is-ready/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=Cultured Magazine|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Aria Dean: Production for a Circle / Hannah Weinberger: we didn't want to leave / Giovanni Cioni: Short films - Announcements - e-flux|url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/243895/aria-deanproduction-for-a-circlehannah-weinbergerwe-didn-t-want-to-leavegiovanni-cionishort-films/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=www.e-flux.com|language=en}}

Olunkwa was a founding editor of Pioneer Works’s The Broadcast, a publication spanning art, music, science, and technology.{{Cite web|title=Index {{!}} The Broadcast|url=https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/directory|access-date=2022-02-01|website=Pioneer Works|language=en}}

In June 2020, Olunkwa founded E&Ko., a furniture line of chairs and floral-inspired birch plywood pieces, exhibited alongside artists such as Walter Price, Paul Chan, Wade Guyton, and Rachel Harrison at galleries like Greene Naftali in East Hampton, N. Y. That July, he co-founded November Magazine, a non-profit dedicated to publishing and programming around contemporary art and culture. Founded alongside Lauren O’Neill-Butler, the magazine includes Dawn Chan and Aria Dean as its founding editors.{{Cite web|date=2021-05-24|title=A Designer on the Up: Emmanuel Olunkwa, at Home in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn|url=https://www.remodelista.com/posts/q-designer-writer-artist-emmanuel-olunkwa-plus-tour-brooklyn-flat/|access-date=2021-09-14|website=Remodelista|language=en-US}} In the fall of 2021, he presented a new capsule collection of design work for SSENSE.{{Cite web|last=Spyplane|first=Blackbird|title=Climb under a rock, see yrself more clearly|url=https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/climb-under-a-rock-and-see-yrself|access-date=2022-02-01|website=www.blackbirdspyplane.com}}

In September 2021, Olunkwa was named editor of Pin-Up Magazine, a biannual publication focused on “architectural entertainment.” He became the magazine’s second editor, succeeding founder Felix Burrichter, who now serves as the magazine's creative and editorial director.{{Cite web|last=Budds|first=Diana|date=2021-11-18|title=Emmanuel Olunkwa Wants to Redesign New York City Windows|url=https://www.curbed.com/2021/11/21-questions-emmanuel-olunkwa-pin-up.html|access-date=2022-02-01|website=Curbed|language=en-us}} Speaking to The New York Times, Olunkwa remarked, “Pin-Up prides itself on its rigorous optimism, so I want to continue complicating what this idea of ‘architectural entertainment’ can mean.” The first issue under his leadership explored the theme of “Radical Optimism.”{{Cite web|last=Spyplane|first=Blackbird|title=Climb under a rock, see yrself more clearly|url=https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/climb-under-a-rock-and-see-yrself|access-date=2022-02-01|website=www.blackbirdspyplane.com}}

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Category:American furniture designers

Category:Photographers from Los Angeles

Category:1994 births

Category:Living people