BLACK HISTORY MONTH
D&D BUILDING
Celebrating Black art and design.
In February 2020, design and art world experts gathered at the Decoration & Design Building in New York City for dialogues on African diaspora design, emerging black talents, and more for the design center’s inaugural series dedicated to Black History Month, organized in partnership with the Black Artists + Designers Guild.
The full event featured a demonstration from Hand-Block Printing Demo Artist and Designer Christine Llewellyn of Christine Joy Design; a conversation between Collections & Collaborations Editor in Chief of Luxe Interiors + Design, Pamela Jaccarino, textile innovator Lori Weitzner, and artist Lisa Hunt; designers Beth Diana Smith, Leyden Lewis, Kiyonda Powell, and Joy Moyler in conversation with Associate Director of Public Programs & Exhibitions for Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Novella Ford; African diaspora influenced cuisine with Celebrity Chef JJ; and House Beautiful Senior Editor Hadley Keller in conversation with designer and avid art collector Sheila Bridges, African American Art Curator Monique Long, and artist and Art Consultant Cheryl Riley.
No design center has ever done this before, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to start changing the narrative, as well as celebrating the contributions of black artists and designers past and present.
- MALENE BARNETT