Posts Tagged ‘Studio Museum in Harlem’

A Glimpse into The African and African Caribbean Design Diaspora Festival

This is an excerpt featured on the Studio Museum in Harlem blog, it’s my first in a series of design articles.

London is one of the hottest and most creative cities, bristling with a multicultural community. Yet its Black artists and designers have remained largely untapped. That is until now. Just this past September, London was booming with design festivals showcasing innovative furniture, objects and fabulous fashions. Among them was the latest installment of the African and African Caribbean Design Diaspora Festival, a hotbed of new ideas, inspiration and creativity. This year’s theme, “?Choices!,” attracted some 22,000 visitors (2,000 more than in 2010). The AACDD festival took place from September 9 to 25, coinciding with the London Design Festival and constituted AACDD’s second successful year. It was the latest project launched by the British European Design Group’s (BEDG) three-year initiative, which is playing an increasingly important role in diversifying London’s creative community.

The festival director, Karin Phillips, Design Director Clemens Hackl, and Nigerian-born designer and curator, Emamoke Ukeleghe, orchestrated this production. The artists represented included roughly 100 graphic designers, multimedia artists, illustrators, industrial and product designers, and visual artists of African and African-Caribbean descent working in the U.K., Africa, the Caribbean, Japan and the United States. Hackl explained, “These artists and designers made a huge impact on visitors with their innovative works.” And thanks to funding from the London Arts Council, this year the AACDD Festival reached more people through a well-designed festival guide, website and social media platforms.

AACDD’s festival took place in three main locations: BargeHouse in OXO Towers in SouthBack, Hospital Club, and the Re-Loved Lounge at 100% Design. With 1,333 square feet of raw warehouse space, the BargeHouse served as the perfect blank canvas setting for browsing art lovers. It featured four floors of curated work by fine artists, illustrators, graphic designers, fashion designers, multimedia artists, and photographers. On one floor, Below the Surface, a photographic project by young black teenagers from London’s African and African-Caribbean communities, was a whopping success. The teenagers documented the colorful facets of everyday life, and produced an eye grabbing collection shot with disposable cameras given away through AACDD’s tweets and Facebook postings. For more click here>>

 

 


17

01 2012

THIS WEEK’S BUZZ: Harlem’s Fashion Row

It has been interesting to see how far fashion week has come in NYC, or perhaps not come.  While this Fall Fashion Week is now being held in its new location at Lincoln Center, however most fashionistas tend to stay centrally located in the midtown area. Sad because they are missing out on a fabulous bustling hub of fashion designers blossoming uptown in Harlem. This Friday, September 17, from 8-10PM is Harlem’s Fashion Row at the Studio Museum in Harlem, featuring the Spring 2011 collection of four locally based fashion designers, Niiamar, Telfar, Sammy B and Viscera NY.

If you’re still eager to see more then make sure to stop by 56 Hamilton Terrace right near City College to view, “Finding Style in Time.” This phenomenal vintage collection goes back as far as the 1890s, and you can slowly browse through four floors in a stunning Victorian Townhouse each floor is staged with fashions in a stylish decor setting  reminiscent of the clothing’s era. The exhibition was curated by the Fashion Design team of Randal Jacobs and David Melton will be on view through 19 September, 2010. Featured here is Ms Lana Turner  not to be confused with the legendary film starlet. This Lana Turner is our very own Harlem resident and she has amassed a stunning collection of vintage clothing that rivals the art philanthropist Millicent Rogers whose fashions were featured in American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum this past summer. Ms Turner is widely knows as a social maven not just in Harlem but throughout New York City, she’s even hob-knobbed with street fashion photographer Bill Cunningham. Take it from me a lover of vintage clothing who’s seen Ms Turner private collection this is a rare experience to view.
Admissions is Free… Stop by 56 Hamilton Terrace btwn 141st and 145th streets NYC, 10031
It’s time to head uptown for happenings this Friday night in Harlem.

Harlem’s Fashion Row from CJ Something on Vimeo.

14

09 2010

ARCHITECTURE: David Adjaye Makes Another Shift with His New Exhibit in London

Urban Africa/David Adjaye:

International Ghanaian architect, David Adjaye’s exhibit at the Design Museum in London offers a glimpse into urbanism in Africa. David was born in Tanzania and raised in London. His architectural firm Adjaye Associates, has offices in London and New York City. Adjaye has photographed and documented major key cities in Africa. In order to shed light on an area of African urbanism that have been ignored in the accepted historiography of architecture.

David was on a panel with Peter Cook of Davis Brody Bond Aedas, and Rodney Leon. Thelma Golden, Director of the Studio Museum in Harlem was moderator at the Pratt Institute’s “Designing an Enduring Legacy,” in February. David Adjaye’s firm is also part of the architectural team that includes Peter Cook and the late Max Bond of Davis Brody Bond Aedas, to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.

photo by m. washington

Read more on David Adjaye in FT online: http://www.ft.com/
Listen to an interview with David on BBC WORLD SERVICE .

Check out a few of the proposed renderings of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C.

03

04 2010