Olisae Taps YouTube Music’s Director of Design, Dee Speed, as the New Creative Director and Designer of His Personal Luxury Brand

CHICAGO, April 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Nigerian singer songwriter Olisae (“Oh-lisa”) has taken another big step towards standing out as an independent artist among the latest crop of Afrobeats talent coming out of Lagos.

Olisae has watched his contemporaries fall into what he deems to be a “homogenous look and feel” in the way they present themselves as artists acting as billboards for other brands. “I’m an independent. That allows me to choose my own path. I don’t want to wear the same tired luxury labels like every other hip-hop or r&b artist out there. Why can’t I be my own brand, promote myself, and define luxury in my own way,” asks Olisae. “Dee comes from a place that sees no boundaries in expression. She understands my vision and together we are creating something that is me from start to finish.”

While Speed, a prolific multi-disciplined designer, is better known for her executive leadership at YouTube and other high profile tech media companies, the Creative Director has a robust set of design credentials that span industrial, graphic, and interior design. She founded her design studio deedee9:14 in 2000 offering clients everything from brand development to her own line of interior products. This collaboration allows Speed to exhibit another facet of her design acumen by crafting the singer’s personal line of luxury fashion items.

Olisae quietly asked Speed back in May of 2000 to redevelop his brand logo as he began releasing new music globally. “I knew then that we were going to treat Olisae and his image like something top tier regardless of what point he was at in his career. I wanted his brand to be elegant and extensible with a simplicity that would flex with his style as he grew with it.” Speed is crafting several items including a men’s monogram luggage set as well as a clothing line that will serve as the exclusive bespoke fashion worn and carried by the artist when he travels or is on stage. The pieces will be one of a kind creations that will not be available to the public, intended only for use by Olisae himself.

“I see this partnership as a reflection of how independent artists are breaking the mold when it comes to having more control over their own image, their sound, and the way they want the world to see them. O’s commitment to his unique Afro-fusion style and his independent status is very intentional and I support the approach he’s taking to controlling his own future.”

The new personal men’s line will include: a monogram bomber jacket, monogram track suit, leather travel duffel, men’s slim wallet, satin scarf, leather sport slides, crossbody bag, travel wallet, and leather backpack, and suitcase.

DEE SPEED BIOGRAPHY

Dee Speed is a multidisciplinary creative director, graphic designer, photographer, industrial designer, interior designer, fine artist, and tech muse. Known largely for her work in the tech space, her career has seen her talents called upon by the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Disney, Google and most recently YouTube. Many of the world’s most popular digital apps of the last two decades have been built under her direction, many with a focus on music and creators. Currently she is Director of Design for YouTube Music.

From Sydney to San Francisco, New Orleans to New York, her interior clients have sought not only her eye for their homes and offices but also for her art and homewares collections as well. As a fine artist, her work has been shown in New York’s Museum of Modern Art as well as the Tate Modern in London and a bevy of art galleries worldwide. Her work sits in both private and corporate art collections owned by companies such as Samsung and Herman Miller.

Speed’s creative studio supports a variety of design projects that allows her to flex across a range of mediums. In 2021, she assisted in supplying luxury Italian design pieces for the Royal Suite at the new St. Regis Cairo in Egypt. In 2022, Dwell featured Speed’s unique modernist cane chair that took centre stage in a retail shop in Oakland, California. While she’s paused on her industrial design escapades, she’s made up for it by continuing to dip into the homewares space with the launch of Muselight, a bespoke small batch luxury line of candles under her design studio label deedee9:14. Over the years there have been a bevy of products released from textiles and fabrics, to most recently wallpapers and lighting. Having worked with the world’s biggest digital brands, Speed now turns her attention to fashion.

A longtime advocate for creatives across multiple industries including music and film, Speed holds a position on the Board of Directors for NOVAC and acts as an advisor to San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design as part of their Design Council.

LISTEN TO OLISAE
Stream Olisae’s Music and follow on social media (https://solo.to/olisae)
For additional artist updates (https://www.olisae.com/model)
For more images [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1magemVtSIbvtUx2uwfB_tujF1DZYPgFz/view?usp=sharing]

Media Contact:
Heidi Pearson
(312) 550-9777 
[email protected]

SOURCE Olisae