22/08/2026
When Lovelyn O'brien lost her job, she could have looked for another one.
Instead, she started Woodsworth International.
She had always been creative, but her old job left little room for her ideas and designs. Losing it became the push she needed to build something of her own.
At one point, she even sacrificed her home to keep the business alive.
She kept going.
And slowly, Woodsworth became more than a furniture company.
Every piece was designed to tell a story.
Her *Uloaku* chair once appeared on a Lagos television station. Another customer bought an *Ogene* chair and shipped it all the way to his home in India.
Those moments still surprise Lovelyn.
But perhaps one of the things that makes her proudest is what happened to a friend she once trained.
Today, that friend runs a successful business of her own.
Lovelyn did not just teach her a skill.
She helped create another business owner.
And that philosophy runs through Woodsworth.
The company gives young people flexible hours so they can work while pursuing their education. It also keeps alive traditional African hand-painting techniques used to transfer patterns and designs onto surfaces.
Because Lovelyn is not simply making chairs, pillows and soft furnishings.
She is taking ideas from our heritage and giving them new forms.
A chair can carry a story.
A pattern can carry memory.
And sometimes, a business can become a way of making sure neither is forgotten.
