A Pocket-Sized Canvas of Culture: Reimagining African Stories Through Design

What happens when an everyday object becomes a vessel for cultural expression? Award-winning illustrator and designer Tshepo Masilo, explores this question through a unique collaboration with BIC, transforming pocket lighters into vibrant visual stories celebrating African identity.

Inspired by the people, places and traditions of the continent, the project blends illustration, research and storytelling to create designs that feel both personal and universally recognisable. Recognised by the AIDA Awards, the work highlights the power of communication design to preserve heritage while creating new ways of experiencing culture.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I am an award winning illustrator, designer and African storyteller based in Johannesburg, South Africa. My work is deeply inspired by my surroundings, my township upbringing and the many stories that exist across the continent. Over the years, I have developed a visual language that uses colour, pattern and character to tell stories that feel both personal and widely relatable. I am interested in work that celebrates African identity in a meaningful way while also solving a design problem for the client. That balance between storytelling and commercial value is a big part of how I approach every project.

What drew you to the idea of using an everyday object like a pocket lighter to tell stories from different African cultures?
When BIC reached out to work on this project, I immediately thought it would be exciting to transform an everyday product into something more meaningful. What interested me most was the contrast. A pocket lighter is such a small, familiar and functional object, but that is exactly what made it powerful. It already exists in people’s hands, pockets and daily moments.
So instead of seeing it only as a product, I saw it as a small canvas with the potential to carry culture, identity and memory. I liked the idea of turning something ordinary into something people could recognise themselves in. That shift is what made the project feel special to me, because it brought storytelling into daily life in a very accessible way.

How did you decide which elements of food, music, fashion and everyday life could better represent each country in the series?
The process started with research and observation. I wanted each country to feel distinct, so I looked closely at cultural symbols, daily rituals, fashion cues, music influences and the kinds of moments that people would immediately connect with. I was careful not to reduce a country to one symbol only, but rather to build from elements that felt lived in and recognisable. Food, music, fashion and lifestyle are all expressive parts of culture, so they became useful entry points into telling a broader story. I was always asking what feels honest, what feels familiar and what would resonate with people from that place.

How did you make sure each design felt locally recognisable and meaningful?
It was important for me to approach each design with care and respect. I wanted the work to feel specific, not generic. That meant paying attention to details such as styling, gestures, objects, colour combinations and the mood of the composition. I focused on things that people could identify with from their own lived experience. At the same time, I wanted the work to remain visually strong at a very small scale, so the recognisable elements had to be clear and intentional. The aim was for someone to look at a lighter and feel that it spoke to something they know, rather than something imagined from a distance.

What did it mean to receive AIDA Awards recognition for a project that turns a mass-market object into a cultural storytelling platform?

It meant a lot. As a creative, it is always affirming when work that comes from a thoughtful place gets recognised. What made this recognition special is that the project was rooted in the idea that even a mass-market object can carry meaning. It showed that storytelling and cultural relevance do not only belong in galleries or large format campaigns, they can also exist in everyday design.
For me, the recognition was not only about the award itself, but about what it said regarding the value of African stories, and the potential of illustration to transform how people experience a product.

Why do you think a platform like AIDA Awards is important now for communication design and for the visibility of African visual culture?
I think platforms like AIDA Awards are important because they create space for African work to be seen, valued and discussed on its own terms. For a long time, African visual culture has often been underrepresented, simplified or viewed through an outside lens. Awards platforms like this help shift that by recognising the depth, quality and originality of work being produced on the continent. For communication design, that visibility matters because it encourages more culturally grounded work, more experimentation and more confidence in telling stories that come from who we are. It also helps create a stronger record of contemporary African creativity for the next generation.

Looking ahead, how do you hope to keep exploring culture through illustration?
I want to keep pushing illustration as a tool for storytelling, memory and cultural celebration. I am interested in exploring more everyday African experiences, the kinds of details, objects, people and environments that shape how we live but are often overlooked. I also want to keep finding ways to bring those stories into different spaces, whether that is product, branding, public art, exhibitions or publishing. For me, the goal is to continue creating work that feels proudly African, emotionally honest and visually rich, while also showing that our stories can exist powerfully in both artistic and commercial contexts.