Hamed Ouattara

Multidisciplinary Artist & Designer
Studio Hamed Ouattara (SHO)

Hamed Ouattara's artistic education began at the Olorun Foundation in Ouagadougou, followed by studies at ENSCI in France (École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle). In the 1990s, Ouattara participated in the first collective exhibitions in Ouagadougou and later had his first solo exhibitions in Grenoble and Brussels, followed by shows in Italy, Eastern Europe, and the USA.

His works are part of the permanent collections of five major institutions: the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Vitra Design Museum (Germany), the Brooklyn Museum (New York), and the Denver Art Museum (USA). He is exclusively represented by Friedman Benda Gallery in New York and was selected for Homo Faber 2026 in Venice (Fondazione Giorgio Cini, September 2026).

His studio SHO, based between Ouagadougou and Atlanta, operates on a artisanal training and collaboration model with approximately 15 craftspeople. Each piece is handcrafted from recycled industrial materials and engages in a dialogue with the medieval architecture of the Sahel region — Timbuktu, Djenné, and Bobo-Dioulasso.

S.H.O Collection Hamed Ouattara

Hamed Ouattara is a multidisciplinary artist and designer, born in 1971 in...

S.H.O Collection Hamed Ouattara

As a painter and sculptor, Ouattara developed his style from initially figurative forms towards abstraction. He successfully experimented with canvases and also created his first pieces of furniture. His art today manifests itself in the combination of a wide variety of materials: traditional and industrial textiles, oil drums and industrial sheets, as well as unusual fabrics, which Ouattara describes as "contemporary witnesses of the modern world and the globalization associated with it".

Ouattara's furniture should not only be understood as art objects in themselves, but also as a means/medium to provide employment opportunities for young African welders: social integration through extraordinary art. The starting point is the lack of local production of modern and abstract design in Burkina Faso, while waste materials for reuse can be found on every street corner: a social design project that makes local resources profitable in the most effective way. Local production and the valorization of local African expertise are of particular importance to the artist.

https://studiohamedouattara.com

Instagram: @studiohamedouattara