A New Virtual Showhouse Explores How Black Families Will Live in 2025
What will home look like for Black families in 2025? With the upending of home life and reexamining of racial inequities brought on in 2020, that’s no small question. But, it’s exactly what a new showhouse conceptualized by the Black Artists + Designers Guild will endeavor to discover—and display—through a new virtual showhouse coming early next year.
The Obsidian Virtual Concept House, presented by the BAD Guild (with media partnership from Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Town & Country and Veranda) will draw on the work of 25 black creators—including architects, artists, and interior and product designers—to envision a home of the future for Black families, which will be presented as a multifaceted virtual tour in January 2021. The ambitious project is a meeting of forward-thinking creativity and data-driven research.
“Each of the contributing creators to Obsidian set their own original goals with a social and political narrative of methodologies, both ancient and present mythologies that connect the African diaspora,” says BAD Guild founder Malene Barnett.
The concept house is also a tangible way for Black creators to push back against not only the lack of diversity in design, but the inherently Eurocentric lens through which American design is often viewed and taught.
“Although Black people have historically interacted within the predominantly Eurocentric design construct, Obsidian centers on our stories,” says Barnett. “These spaces are for us and, in so defining, honor our histories and futures. Obsidian documents our aspirations and celebrates how we, as Black creators, can dream our communities into life and imagine our built environment.”
Stay tuned for more on the participating creators and, of course, for the full reveal of the Obsidian House next year.
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