My Lagos Waka || A tour of Lekki Arts Market and Nike Art Gallery ( Tips, Hacks and market finds)

Touring the Lekki Arts and Crafts

 Market

I finally got around organizing my first (group) tour  of the tour series called THE LAGOS WAKA  and on my tour list , the lekki arts and craft market was the first but i decided to add Nike Art Gallery ( I have been there thrice ) on this tour since it was on the same axis  as the art and Crafts Market.  The funny thing about this trip was that just like the normal African fashion, 5 people indicated interest in going on this tour and on the day of the tour trip only Royalbiba of   www.royalbiba.com  showed up while others came up with excuses. We started out late and our first stop was the market.

The lekki Arts and Crafts  Market ( also known as the Jakande art market ) is an art haven that showcases the beauty of art in Lagos, Nigeria. The market is located at jakande bus-stop, off lekki-epe expressway ( 5th roundabout after lekki toll-gate, When coming from Victoria Island) .

As the name implies, there are various arts and crafts pieces like paintings, sculptures, raffia baskets, leather goods, traditional wooden mask carvings, African print materials, and household goods.  The market consists of well organized mini stores that are well labelled. We navigated through the market from one stall to another and we were awed by the unique pieces we saw  and a few of my finds  wooden tableware, traditional kitchenware , ornaments carved in onyx stone , beads ( Shebra, Ambar and chevron) , real pearls, precious stones,  leather bags , metal sculptures of the royal arts of the ancient Benin kingdom.

Wooden kitchen and dinning utensils

Gothic Artworks 

Metal sculptures

Ornaments in form of pyramids, Apple carved in onyx stone

Time pieces , salt shakers carved in onyx stone

Raffia goods on display

Colourful raffia baskets

Peep that colourful talking drum

Beaded Artworks

At a stall where leather goods and beads are sold

Say no evil, see no evil and hear no evil

My Market buys        

Things are a bit pricey at first because most sellers see everyone as a tourist, so they give you the tourist price first, then with some good bargaining we were able to get a good price . I ended up buying  a colourful hand fan for 250 naira,  raffia placemat  for 700 naira, leather handbag for 2800 naira,a carved wooden face mask for 1500 naira , beaded and talking drum key holders for 200 naira each.

The raffia placemat and handfa

Flatly I created with the raffia placemat and handfan

Leather bag , wooden face mask and keyholders

We did not get to go round the market because the market was kinda big, the sun was very hot and we had to leave for the Nike art gallery but here are a few tips if you plan on touring the market.

Tips and Hacks 

• Window shop first , wander through the market and note  the stall numbers you will like to return to later. This gives you a chance to get an idea of price range.
• Feel free to haggle, it is expected. 
• Tell the sellers you are a local ( Nigerian) , so they can give you a non- tourist price.
• Budget time and money to spend in the market. It's not an half hour job.

Related: My trip to lekki conservation center


Next Stop: Nike Art Gallery 

We left the arts and crafts market to Nike art gallery which is located at ikate bus-stop along the lekki-epe expressway.  The art gallery is a white majestic building ( four storey building) which offers artistic splendour from its entryway. This was my third time visiting the art gallery,  you can check out my detailed first Post on tour of Nike Art Gallery . Everyone is allowed  entry into this gallery at no cost but the use of professional camera is prohibited, also pictures of the art work are not to be taken except an individual takes a picture with the artwork. Some art items they sell apart from paintings include wood carvings , Ankara handbags , Ankara foot mats, Adire, beads , art books , postcards and many more art pieces.

Inside the Nike Art Gallery

RoyalBiba of Royalbiba.com

Have you been to the lekki arts and crafts market? If yes, would you love to visit again? Kindly drop your comments below and you can connect with me via INSTAGRAM, thanks.