Meet Nigerian Artist Who Designed 2024 FA Cup Trophy

Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale, popularly known as Olaolu Slawn, has designed the English FA Cup trophy for the 2024 final between Manchester City and Manchester United, set to be displayed at Wembley on Saturday.

The Football Association Challenge Cup, widely known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football tournament in English domestic football. 

First held in the 1871-72 season, it is the oldest national football competition globally and is organized by The Football Association (The FA), after which it is named.

A talented young Nigerian artist, Olaolu Slawn, crafted the English FA Cup trophy for the 2023-2024 season.

 Here are some key points about his life and career:

Olaolu Slawn, born on October 24, 2000, in Lagos, Nigeria, is a British-Nigerian designer and artist known for his vibrant works featuring spray paint, large-scale pop art canvases, graffiti, caricatures, and murals.

At 23, he made history as the youngest person to design the Britannia statuette for the annual BRIT Awards in 2023.

In his late teens, Slawn worked at Wafflesncream, Nigeria’s pioneering skate shop, where he met friends Leo and Onyedi. Together, they created art, skated, and made films.

This collaboration led to the formation of an apparel group named Motherlan, which gained popularity in Nigeria and attracted the attention of Virgil Abloh.

Slawn moved to London in 2018 and began studying graphic design at Middlesex University in 2019. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he started painting more prolifically, distributing his artwork at parties and building a social media presence.

His first exhibition took place in September 2021 at Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. In 2022, Slawn organized a charity auction for Sotheby’s, where Skepta showcased his first painting. Slawn also served as the statuette and set designer for the 2023 BRIT Awards.

On May 22, 2023, he opened BeauBeau’s Cafe, a family-run restaurant in East London named after his son.