Was the attendant gallery at this morning’s announcement of Best of Show Winners as shocked as we were to hear that British-Nigerian artist and designer Yinka Ilori had won Best of Competition at NeoCon 2024?

Even though this is the first time in many years that a textile collection has won the coveted award, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, for Ilori will be everywhere at NeoCon 2024. In fact, he’s the first NeoCon trifecta: not only is he unveiling his new collection with Momentum, he’s also delivering a NeoCon keynote and presenting a commission for ART on the MART in Chicago.

Ilori’s partnership with Momentum is an ultra-colorful collection of textiles and wallcoverings. Yinka Ilori x Momentum includes five patterns: Shower Me With Flowers, Dream Catchers, Eyes in Reflection, Blossoms Time, and Rhythms Surround You. All designs in the collaboration feature Ilori’s love of color and joyful aesthetic.

A geometric representation of blooms, Shower Me With Flowers conveys an exuberant appreciation for florals. Its simplified three-petal flowers are contained within arcs and punctuated with dots.

Dream Catchers combines leaves and diamonds in a kaleidoscopic pattern. In orange and pink, Dream Catchers feels very much like an over-the-top hat for an eccentric candy-maker.

Rhythms Surround You pays tribute to shapes with its stack of arches, circles, chevrons, triangles, and lines. In a neutral colorway, the pattern reads like Art Deco in the fifth dimension. Blossoms Time is a woven solid with a nubby texture—for all the tactile people.

Eyes in Reflection is the one you can’t take your eyes off of. With its paired circles, capsular ovals, and pupil-like polka dots, Eyes in Reflection reinvents the eye motif, taking it from a place of voyeurism to a world where eyes represent seeing others.