London’s Design Museum is set to celebrate contemporary Black design with new exhibition

three images spliced together, showing three different works featured in the exhibition. From L-R it shows: LOOK 23, LABRUM, SS25 Designed by an Immigrant Journey of Triumphs 2024, "Born in Flames" vase, and SS24 Temple Collection ‘Armour' Dress — (Image credit: Foday Dumbuya, Courtesy of LABRUM (L), Phoebe Collings James, Courtesy Mudbelly Ceramics (C) and Feben / Sarah Dattani Tucker (R))

London is a pretty cultured city, a multicultural melting pot that everyone benefits from through art, music, food and more.

But it's multicultural design that set to get the spotlight soon, as a major new exhibition all about contemporary Black design heads to the capital this autumn.

Called The Nue Black Aesthetic, the exhibition will be heading to London’s Design Museum from November 2026, running until August 8th 2027. The exhibition has been guest curated by author and journalist Charlene Prempeh and charts some of the most innovative contemporary Black designers working right now. From clothing to carpentry, the selected artists all show case the best and quite frankly coolest designers who all help answer the question (and displace the stereotypes about) what Black design looks like, and who gets to shape design culture.

'A landmark exhibition'

Artists will be sharing their different experiences of their communities, balancing shared experience with the distinct traditions of their specific heritage, showcasing their varied approaches to identity, culture and community. The featured designers include 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.

There will be some additional works and graphics by over 20 designers, from Yinka Ilori whose colourful designs you will have spotted everywhere from Dunelm to M&S, to the trailblazing Althea McNish, the first Black British textile designer to earn international reputation for her stunning creations.

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. The museum has praised the showcase as a “landmark exhibition”, calling it “thought provoking and nuanced” and added it will “enrich our understanding of what is happening in design today.”

Tickets have already gone on sale for the exhibition, priced at £19 for a standard adult ticket. You can find them at The Design Museum’s website where you can browse the rest of the exhibitions being hosted throughout the year.

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Hermione Blandford is the Content Editor for Shortlist’s social media which means you can usually find her scrolling through Instagram and calling it work, or stopping random people in the street and accosting them with a mini mic. She has previously worked in food and drink PR for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Gordon's, The Singleton, Lagavulin and Don Julio which means she is a self confessed expert in spicy margaritas and pints, regularly popping into the pub in the name of research.