Charlene Prempeh — The Nue Black Aesthetic

What isn't in the Design Museum's new show says as much as what is. Guest curator Charlene Prempeh cut dozens of Black designers she respects from The Nue Black Aesthetic, keeping sixteen whose work shares specific themes rather than a shared identity: more than 100 objects across furniture, architecture, tailoring and sculpture, opening November 6, 2026. Prempeh, author of Now You See Me: An Introduction to 100 Years of Black Design, built the show to argue against the idea of Black design as merely crafty; Bianca Saunders' Met Gala suit for Usher sits inside a section called Rethinking the System, not one called craft. It opens in November. The room hasn't caught up to that argument yet.