British-Nigerian artist Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale, commonly known as Slawn, has continued his spree of breaking records and cultural barriers with his latest accolade - designing the 2024 FA Cup. 

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Slawn took to his social media to declare the ground-breaking event as the ‘biggest thing’ he has done to date - a particularly notable statement from an artist who has designed a Britannia statuette for the Brit awards, and sold his art for record-breaking amounts at London’s illustrious Sotheby’s auction house. Perhaps the most jaw-dropping of all of Slawn's mounting achievements, is the fact that he has been able to reach milestones that many seasoned artists have not, at just 23-years old! 

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To bring his iconic design to life Slawn teamed up with world-renowned elite sporting trophy makers, silversmiths and goldsmiths, Thomas Lyte. The bespoke one-off replica of the Emirates FA Cup, features many of Slawns infamous patents including the bubble faced, wide-mouthed illustration he’s become known for. Whilst his iconic illustrations and distinct style have propelled him to the top of the art industry, many observers have accused him of portraying degrading illustrations of the African phenotype, creating caricaturisation’s of black and African features and making ‘minstrel-style’ art. However, these claims have not seem to slow the successful artist down at all as he recently sold one of his controversial illustrations for over £30,000.

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According to an Instagram post by Slawn's collaborator Thomas Lyte, ‘Slawn's design will be on show next week at an exclusive 'Cup Culture' event, hosted by the FA, ahead of this years final between’ football teams Manchester City and Manchester United. Slawn also took to his social media, where he proudly showed off his ‘tribute to the FA Cup trophy’ in a post which showcased the silver masterpiece along with some of his design process. Slawn then added another post, which featured his young son and pregnant girlfriend, captioned ‘I do this all for you my boy’. The artist recently announced that he is expecting another son with his partner Tallula Christie, which will no doubt be another big moment in his already wildly successful young life. 

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We look forward to seeing what else the ground-breaking artist has in store! 

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