Umbrella Crate Stall makes life easier for Nigeria's street market traders

Nigerian designer Paul Yakubu combined an umbrella with a modular system of display crates to create this trading stall, designed to optimise space in busy street markets.

Yakubu developed the Umbrella Crate Stall based on his own research into the informal markets of Lagos and other Nigerian cities, where umbrellas are commonly used as flexible shelters for grocers, restaurants, barbers and other traders.

Typically, traders use makeshift tables or stools for displaying goods, which fail to optimise the space beneath the umbrella's circular canopy, the designer found.

Yakubu also noticed how these stalls often make it difficult for people in a crowded market to see what's being sold, as well as being difficult for traders to set up and dismantle at the end of the day.

His proposal, developed during a residency at the Versant Sud cultural organisation in Marseilles, France, combines the umbrella with a modular system of stacked crates that are angled to make the contents easier to view.

The precise angle of the crates can be adjusted by pivoting them up or down, and the entire upper section rotates so customers can take a closer look at the goods.

"The umbrella crate stall improves the organisation of open markets in cities by providing traders with a structured system for organising and displaying products," Yakubu explained.

"It provides adaptability, flexibility, modularity and organisation for informal open markets within a 12-square-metre circular area."

The stall's modular construction allows for scalability, so smaller traders can gradually add units as their business grows. Each module holds four crates, with the structure capable of supporting a maximum of 20 crates.

A set of wheels fitted to the base ensures the stall can be easily transported from storage to the marketplace and then returned at the end of the day. It can also be disassembled if needed to help save space.

Yakubu spent three years researching informal markets and developing concepts prior to applying for a residency at Versant Sud, which was founded in 2017 to support creative projects focused on the Global South.

During the two-month residency, he refined key aspects of the design such as the crate sizes, the structural framework and a method for connecting the components that would allow for assembly and disassembly.

A prototype built in collaboration with specialist steel fabricators helped to inform further development, resulting in an improved version of the stall that Yakubu is testing with traders in Lagos.

Next, his design research lab UmbrellArch is seeking manufacturing partners to develop the market stall into "an affordable and accessible product".

Other improvements on the market stall that have been featured on Dezeen include a folding version designed for London's East Street Market and a roaming stall on wheels by Aberrant Architecture.

The photography is by Olajide Ayeni.

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