Parables For Happiness, hosted at London’s Design Museum, traces the arc of Yinka Ilori’s career by taking in key projects as well as pivotal and sentimental pieces from his history.

The maximalist show, which is open until June next year, is filled with the bright patterns and colours that have established Ilori as a firm favourite of the art and design world.

There’s a sizeable collection of chairs – the object which kickstarted his career – as well as images of and pieces from his public artworks, including Ilori’s much-loved Laundrette of Dreams for Lego, and his Filtered Rays pavilion.

But while the show’s a chance to see the British-Nigerian designer’s impressively colourful array of work to date, it also offers insights into the people and objects that have inspired his practice.

These are interwoven amongst his work, for example, a copper-coloured chair by David Adjaye, hanging textiles designed in Lagos, and one of Jane Atfield’s recycled plastic RCP2 chairs. Other smaller items speak to Ilori’s life pre-design, adding a resonant note to the show.

Parables For Happiness runs until 25 June 2023 at The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG

Read next: Maximalist hotels that celebrate colour and pattern

Yinka Ilori unveils a technicolour pavilion in Berlin