On Friday, 13 March 2026, NoteSphere held its inaugural workshop at Severe Nature, Ikoyi. The Don’t Stop Creating Workshop focused on footwear design, with footwear designer Abdulhameed Adewoyin as co-curator. 20 participants attended, and by 4:15 pm, they had progressed from complete beginners to sketching and presenting their own sneaker designs.

Moderated by Hodovai Ekpe-Iko, the workshop began with an introduction to Abdulhameed and his journey in footwear design. According to Abdulhameed, he had been making shoes since 2012, which provided him with a solid foundation when he ventured into footwear design in 2021. A field still relatively new in Nigeria, Abdulhameed initially struggled to find mentors, carving out a path for himself in an industry with limited infrastructure. Nigeria’s economy has not been helpful. He has watched the price of a litre of fuel rise from ₦250 to ₦1,000 in a short period, which has been a limiting factor. Other challenges—material costs and difficulty producing designed patterns—have hindered opportunities. Nevertheless, he has managed to make progress through collaborations both locally and internationally. The transferable knowledge of footwear design to other areas, such as sculpting, gives it an advantage when diversification is needed.

After questions from an interactive audience, the workshop moved into a live sketch and pattern design session. Abdulhameed drew a concept design using the three circles of an iPhone camera, suggested by Tomi, a participant.

He then demonstrated how to pattern on a last, wrapping paper tape around the foot-shaped mould, marking out the design sections, cutting them out, and tracing the shapes onto A4 paper to create flat 2D pattern pieces. Participants followed along with pencils, pens, and A4 paper, drawing their own sketches, some good, some rough, all part of the learning process.

After a short break for drinks and conversations, the group reconvened for the design challenge. Three groups designed sneaker silhouettes, with Group 1 emerging as winners. Their design will be actualised in collaboration with Abdulhameed and NoteSphere.

After a vote of thanks by Emmanuel Oke, it was a wrap. First workshop done. More to come.