Furniture plays a central role in how our homes function and feel, shaping everything from daily routines to how we gather with others. Increasingly, Black furniture designers are expanding that conversation, creating work that reflects culture, history, and contemporary living without reducing design to trend or novelty.

Takeaways New Hide ▲

Norman Teague blends

architecture with social

spaces in furniture

Tosin Oshinowo fuses

Nigerian craft with

modern architectural forms

Peter Mabeo emphasizes

local artisan collaboration

and durable design

Kusheda Mensah creates

adaptable modular furniture

for evolving lives

❮

❯

For The Art of Home, we’re highlighting Black furniture designers whose work is influencing the way interiors are designed and experienced today. These designers bring distinct perspectives to furniture-making, whether through craft, material exploration, modular thinking, or narrative-driven form. Their work reflects a range of practices and geographies, offering furniture that feels intentional, relevant, and aligned with how people actually live.

Norman Teague

Norman Teague approaches furniture through the lens of architecture, movement, and social space. His work often references how people gather and interact, translating those ideas into pieces that feel intentional without being ornamental. Teague’s designs are marked by strong forms and a clear point of view, offering furniture that supports connection and shared experience within the home.

BOA, OI Studio

BOA is a self-taught furniture designer whose work reflects a long-standing commitment to eco-friendly design and craftsmanship. She studied graphics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spent years working across fashion, interiors, and furniture before establishing her design practice. Raised on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, BOA brings an acute awareness of the relationship between the natural environment and the built one to her furniture, which favors pared-back forms, responsible materials, and thoughtful construction.

Peter Mabeo, Mabeo Furniture

Peter Mabeo is a self-taught furniture designer from Gaborone, Botswana, and the founder of Mabeo Furniture. His work brings together contemporary design with Botswana’s craft traditions, drawing on local practices in woodwork, basketry, and textiles. Alongside collaborations with local artisans, Mabeo’s work has been presented internationally, including a collection developed with Fendi for Design Miami.

Tyka Pryde

Tyka Pryde’s furniture is expressive, playful, and personal. Her work often treats furniture as an extension of creative identity, using bold shapes and unexpected details to invite individuality into the home. Pryde was recognized as part of Home & Texture’s inaugural Design Vanguard, where she was featured in the Visionaries category, highlighting interior designers shaping the future of the field, a perspective that carries through her furniture practice.

Kusheda Mensah

Kusheda Mensah is a British-born Ghanaian designer based in London whose work explores how furniture shapes the way people live and connect. Her interest in furniture design began while studying print design at the London College of Communication, where she developed an approach centered on creating living environments that feel both playful and practical. Her ongoing project, Mutual, responds to contemporary patterns of disconnection through interlocking modular furniture inspired by human closeness and form. Mensah has presented her work internationally, including at SaloneSatellite in Milan.

Jomo Tariku

Jomo Tariku is an Ethiopian American furniture designer whose work draws from African art, architecture, and material culture. His designs translate historical references, craft traditions, and visual storytelling into contemporary furniture with a strong point of view. Tariku’s work is held in the permanent collections of major institutions, including The Met, LACMA, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and has appeared in more than 40 publications. He is also a founding member of the Black Artists + Designers Guild and continues to expand his practice through furniture, public art, and design research.

Paul Jeffrey, Paul Rene Furniture

Paul Jeffrey is a Detroit-born furniture designer based in Phoenix whose work bridges industrial design and custom furniture making. Trained in industrial design and with early experience in automotive concept design, Jeffrey approaches furniture through form, movement, and material contrast. His practice centers on bespoke pieces that feel expressive yet grounded in craft, reflecting a long-standing interest in how furniture can carry both visual presence and personal meaning.

Together, these designers represent the range and depth of Black furniture design today. Their work challenges narrow definitions of what furniture should be, offering pieces shaped by culture, context, and lived experience rather than trend cycles.

As The Art of Home continues to explore how design, creativity, and culture intersect within the home, these designers offer a clear view of where furniture design is headed. Their work invites a more expansive understanding of the home, one where furniture is not only used, but chosen with purpose.