In a dusty corner of Ouagadougou, sparks fly and metal sings. Here, Burkinabé artist Hamed Ouattara pounds life into discarded oil drums — turning the leftovers of industry into sculptural pieces that carry the heartbeat of Africa’s resilience.
Meet the Maker
Before the welding torch, there was a calculator.
Hamed Ouattara first studied accountancy – numbers, balance sheets, the quiet logic of order. But his imagination refused to stay in the margins. Fashion drew him next before painting opened a new way of seeing.
Eventually, metal found him. The clang, the heat, the possibility.
He built his own tools and began turning discarded oil drums into something entirely his own. Today, in a small studio in Ouagadougou, filled with dust, sweat, and colour, Hamed and his apprentices transform the detritus of modern trade into furniture that feels alive: raw, resilient, and profoundly human.
His medium of choice: the oil barrel. Once used to transport fuel across West Africa, these battered drums carry traces of global commerce – logos, scratches, dents, rust. Hamed flattens, welds, and paints them, but never erases their past.
“Thanks to recycling,” he says, “I can offer a local and creative response to the waste our region produces.”
Each piece wears its scars with pride, every seam and patch a fragment of history made beautiful through purpose.
From his Indigola Cabinet, glowing in layered indigo blue, to the Scarabé Armchair with its sculptural curves, Ouattara’s furniture balances muscle and poetry. These works have travelled far – from Ouagadougou to Friedman Benda in New York, where his 2024 exhibition Bolibana (“the end of the journey”) reimagined disposability as rebirth.
Each object feels like a drumbeat – rhythm, repetition, variation – a song of industry remade into intimacy.
“Art has a role to play in the development of Africa,” says Hamed. “It should reflect who we are, not what others expect of us.”
His studio is more than a workshop; it’s a philosophy in motion. He mentors a team of young artisans, passing down both skill and mindset: that creativity and sustainability can belong to the same flame.
He doesn’t chase perfection, he chases truth. The honesty of a material left slightly rough. The balance between control and chance. The beauty of imperfection turned intentional.
What began as one man’s experiment in re-use has become a movement rooted in West African ingenuity. Hamed’s works now live in the Denver Art Museum and appear in Design Miami and Design Milk, yet his heart remains in Ouagadougou, where barrels still arrive dented, where sparks still fly, and where waste still finds its second life.
Through his craft, he creates opportunity, preserves heritage, and offers a quietly radical truth: sustainability isn’t a trend – it’s a worldview.
Visit Hamed Ouattara
To see more of Hamed Ouattara’s work or commission a piece:
- Studio Hamed Ouattara
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - Website: www.studiohamedouattara.com
- Instagram: @studiohamedouattara
- Represented by: Friedman Benda Gallery, New York
