LONDON.- Today, the Design Museum in London unveiled an exhibition guest curated by author and journalist Charlene Prempeh that charts the work of some of the most innovative contemporary Black designers working right now.

The Nue Black Aesthetic — which opens to the public from this Friday and runs until August 2027 — features 16 designers who are reshaping the design industry. It is one of the most extensive exhibitions on contemporary Black design ever held in the UK.

With over 100 objects on display, visitors can see innovative practices that span from fashion and furniture, to architecture, product design and sculpture.

At the core of the exhibition is the question: “What does it mean to be a Black designer working today?”

Across six sections, the show demonstrates that Black design is not a monolith, and that there is no single way to be a Black designer. By spotlighting diverse practices and voices, the exhibition invites visitors to rethink assumptions about what Black design looks like and who gets to shape design culture.

The designers featured in the show are:

Tejumola Adenuga, Taiba Akhuetie, Ini Archibong, Simone Brewster, Mac Collins, Phoebe Collings-James, Foday Dumbuya, Feben, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Andu Masebo, Saul Nash, Tosin Oshinowo, Bianca Saunders, Rachel Scott, Samuel Ross and Giles Tettey Nartey.

Additional works and graphics by over 20 designers — from Althea McNish to Yinka Ilori — can also be seen in the exhibition’s introduction to contextualise Black design from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Many of the designers featured belong to diasporic communities, balancing shared experiences with the distinct traditions of their specific heritage. Their varied approaches to identity, culture and community reflect the myriad nuances of the Black experience.

The Nue Black Aesthetic has been guest-curated by Charlene Prempeh, founder of creative studio and art consultancy A Vibe Called Tech and author of Now You See Me: An Introduction to 100 Years of Black Design. The Project Curator from the Design Museum is Tiya Dahyabhai.

The title of the show references the cultural movements of the ‘Black Aesthetic’ of the 1960s and the ‘New Black Aesthetic’ of the 1980s. But this exhibition proposes a ‘Nue’ era — one defined by nuance, where there is no single way to be a Black designer.

Charlene Prempeh, guest-curator of The Nue Black Aesthetic said: “The idea that Black design is not monolithic should not be surprising or controversial and yet there has historically been very little interrogation about the complexities and inspiration of contemporary Black designers or about how the specific experience of creating in a predominantly white space influences their practice. This exhibition focuses a spotlight on the design work of the diasporic community while provoking a reassessment of what Black design is today.”

Exhibition Sections

The exhibition will be split into six distinct sections, each exploring design under a broad definition, but collectively reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of being a Black designer.

The first section — Towards a Nue Black Aesthetic — presents the background and context to the current moment. Here visitors can explore milestones in Black design across the past seven decades. These pioneering designers and the scholarship around them have shaped contemporary practice, laying the foundation for nuanced approaches of Black designers today.

Identity as Inspiration examines the Black designers of now, who mine their identity as a departure point for their work. Each practitioner here invites us to see identity as a fluid, evolving source of creativity and innovation. Highlights in this section include the Bianca Saunders-designed suit worn by Usher at New York’s Met Gala in 2023 which speaks to how Saunders redefines menswear through challenging hypermasculine stereotypes. There’ll also be domestic furniture — including a chair and a lampshade — made of synthetic hair by sculptural artist Taiba Akhuetie. Growing up in the UK amid a culture that idolised European beauty standards, Akhuetie often saw Black hair treated as something to be managed or controlled. Thes pieces see Akhuetie reframe hairstyling as a positive communal ritual.

Design is an essential tool for forging and sustaining Black communities, and in Community Building, the focus is on how designers embrace their craft as a space of belonging. Objects here will include a high-fashion reimagining of the Arsenal 2024/25 away kit, which fashion brand LABRUM designed in collaboration with adidas. Its black, red and green colour scheme draws on the colours of Pan Africanism, and the kit resonated widely, bringing together Arsenal supporters across the African diaspora.

From challenging established aesthetic norms, questioning commercial hierarchies or creating cultural legacies that shift how design is understood, Rethinking the System will look at the Black designers challenging norms. Visitors will see architect Giles Tettey Nartey’s contemporary twist on a balafon — a type of xylophone originating in West Africa — which speaks to his work confronting how the Western design canon has dismissed traditional design from West Africa as frozen in time.

The penultimate section sees a new film created specially for this exhibition by and directed by Samona Olanipekun. Black by Design follows the designers featured in the exhibition as they unpack their personal journeys and motivations. Through intimate interviews, studio visits, and candid reflections, this film explores how they navigate the contemporary design landscape.

The Finale sees a brand-new site-specific commission by Nigerian American designer Ini Archibong. Mfon — meaning ‘grace’ in Nigeria’s Ibibio language — is a large chandelier made from hand-blown Murano glass, which encourages reflection. The vastness of the new piece gives space to the varied experiences, identities and localities that make up a community while insisting on a powerful, unbroken connection.