blkHaUS studios was founded in 2016 by artist and designer folayemi wilson and designer norman teague, as a chicago-based, socially focused collaborative design studio. it is dedicated to using art and design as an agent of change to uplift and transform marginalized communities. the name blkHaUS is inspired by the bauhaus, a german school of architecture and applied arts founded in 1919 on experimental principles of functionalism and truth in materials at a time when african aesthetics made significant contributions to the development of european modernism. the aesthetics of the studio is influenced by the epistemologies of black atlantic culture and the harmonic dualism1 between african and modernist design principles. we produce visual art, designed objects and spaces, small architecture projects and public art, and curate community-based art and design exhibitions, projects and events.
in 2019, teague formed norman teague design studios to work on independent projects. In 2021, wilson moved to pennsylvania after covid to be closer to family and her east coast roots. she has remained principal of blkHaUS studios, which is now based in philly.
blkHaUS studios strives for its work and presence in the design profession to instigate greater inclusion of black and brown narratives in the history of design and promote design’s relevance to contemporary communities of color. blkHaUS promotes design as a language that can be used as an agent of change, so that communities of color can thrive and be seated at tables of power influencing contemporary urban social design.
learn more about wilson’s visual art practice below.
in 2019, teague formed norman teague design studios to work on independent projects. In 2021, wilson moved to pennsylvania after covid to be closer to family and her east coast roots. she has remained principal of blkHaUS studios, which is now based in philly.
blkHaUS studios strives for its work and presence in the design profession to instigate greater inclusion of black and brown narratives in the history of design and promote design’s relevance to contemporary communities of color. blkHaUS promotes design as a language that can be used as an agent of change, so that communities of color can thrive and be seated at tables of power influencing contemporary urban social design.
learn more about wilson’s visual art practice below.
photo: nathan keay with photo assistance from joe crawford.
folayemi wilson earned an mfa from the rhode island school of design (risd) in furniture design with a concentration in art, history, theory & criticism, and an mba from new york university’s stern school of business. early in her career, she worked as a graphic designer and art director in new york and founded studio w, inc., a design consultancy that worked for clients such as: condé nast publications, time warner, essence magazine, the new york times magazine, black entertainment television (bet), and wiliams sonoma. her writing and reviews have appeared in nka, journal of contemporary african art, and expansions, a publication of the 2021 venice architecture biennale among others. wilson has been awarded residencies or fellowships at acre, anderson ranch arts center, djerassi artist residency, kohler arts/industry program, haystack school of craft, macdowell, mass moca, and purchase college, in new york. formerly professor of art & art history at columbia college chicago, she is currently an associate dean in the college of arts & architecture at penn state and has served on the board of trustees of the american craft council. she was awarded a 3arts award in 2015, their next level award in 2020, and is a two-time recipient of a graham foundation for the fine arts award. her work is held in the smithsonian’s collections at the cooper hewitt national design museum and the national museum of african american history and culture (nmaahc). an oral history of her work was featured in bomb magazine in 2023.
curriculum vitae
curriculum vitae
1 harmonic dualism is a term coined by wilson in 2003 in her paper: ancestry, evolution & memory: central african funerary art and practice and its evolution in the united states and cuba, while studying at the rhode island school of design under professor winifred lambert.