The Nue Black Aesthetic opens at the Design Museum

The Design Museum says Black design is not a monolith (a single block with no variety), and its new show sets out to prove it. The Nue Black Aesthetic opened on 6 November and runs until 8 August 2027. It has more than 100 objects across six sections.

Fashion, furniture, architecture, product design and sculpture all feature. The show names 16 designers, from Ini Archibong to Samuel Ross and Rachel Scott. Author and journalist Charlene Prempeh is the guest curator.

The context

The title borrows from two earlier ideas. The Black Aesthetic was a 1960s idea, and the New Black Aesthetic followed in the 1980s. Wallpaper reports that Prempeh adds "Nue" to stress nuance, with individual histories and places.

The museum puts it as an era where there is no single way to be a Black designer. Prempeh founded A Vibe Called Tech and wrote Now You See Me: An Introduction to 100 Years of Black Design.

Six sections, one big idea

Here is how the show is laid out.

• Towards a Nue Black Aesthetic looks at seven decades of Black design, its makers and its scholarship.
• Identity as Inspiration looks at personal histories and cultural references in design.
• Community Building treats design as a way to create belonging.
• Rethinking the System challenges ideas of value, hierarchy and the canon (the works a field treats as its standard).
• Black by Design is a new film by Samona Olanipekun, who follows the designers through interviews and studio visits.
• The finale is a site-specific commission by Ini Archibong.

Objects to look for

Tejumola Butler Adenuga's Àgbalàgbà (Elderly) chair, made in 2022, is among the objects named. Giles Tettey Nartey's Strange Notes dates from 2025. A suit by Bianca Saunders, made for Usher in 2023, is another.

Labrum's Arsenal away kit for 2024/25 is also named. Simone Brewster has her first museum show at the museum too, and she presents new work here.

What Prempeh says about the diaspora

Prempeh says the diasporic voice has grown stronger over the past decade or two. African and Caribbean countries have very different stories to tell, she adds. She also says there has been an erosion of diversity programmes.

Visiting

Adult tickets start at £15.29. Students pay from £11.47 and children from £7.65, and members go free. The museum opens 10.00 to 17.00 from Monday to Thursday. On Friday to Sunday it opens 10.00 to 18.00.

Our view

We think the plainest idea here is the strongest: there is no single way to be a Black designer. Seeing 16 designers side by side lets visitors test that claim for themselves.

My own design knowledge fits comfortably on one small stool.

Go with one question in mind, and see which room answers it first.

What do you think?