SPECIAL PROJECT
Black Artists + Designers Guild Obsidian Concept House - launched in January 2021
Shared Dreams, Ancestral Futures: Creative Expressions of Black Family Life
The Obsidian Concept House is a project conceived and designed by 23 creators of The Black Artists + Designers Guild. Obsidian aims to empower a million Black families to affirm our right to occupy space, dismantling decades of environmental injustice and social inequity. As a liberatory, creative practice, the virtual concept house shines a light on how place and space form the foundation for physical, social, emotional, and creative well-being. A collective vision of the future, Obsidian is made of both inspiration and aspiration.
Love & Arrows Garden Wall
Designed for the Artists Studios & Garden by Linda Allen Designs
The Artist Studios & Garden features a green wall with a copper metal screen made from the "Love and Arrows" design. The space, created by Linda Allen designs, defines the healing spaces that nurtures our better, most authentic selves.
Soul Center by Joy Street Design
This soul center of the house features bold colors, references to hip-hop, and sculptural elements that invite inhabitants to lounge. As you explore through the Obsidian Concept House, Lisa Hunt’s design can be seen in the kitchen wallpaper. In conjunction with Kelly Finley Design, the geometric patterning and earth tones of the walls provide the dynamic background for highlighting elements of color, modern furnishings, and a practical design.
Obsidian Concept House
OBSIDIAN is a virtual concept house launched by the Black Artists + Designers Guild (BADG) in January 2021. It represents the organization’s inaugural initiative, designed to invite new conversations about the space of home as a place of thriving for one million Black families. The first iteration, Obsidian 1.0, was conceived and designed collectively by 23 BADG Creators and two rising stars, predicated on seven core values: Wellness, Identity, Sustenance, Terra, Legacy, Dwelling, and Ancestral Futures. Guided by the belief that Black futures are equitable, sustainable, and liberatory, we have created a virtual space that manifests our collective imaginings.
Black Artists + Designers Guild and the stewards of the Obsidian Project believe that Black creativity is a tool of liberation. Showcasing the work of Black Artists and Designers who are constructing new visions of Black family life, we affirm that the definitions of Black creativity and Black families are inherently fluid, varied, and complex. Through the Obsidian virtual concept house, we affirm our desire to shatter narratives of monolithic Blackness by highlighting the diversity of visions conceptualized by our team of creators, many of which intersect in values, materials, and methods of making, but all of which represent our unique paths to creativity and to one another. Each unique vision - each room - is a stand for Black creativity, for Black families, for Black liberation, for Black thriving, for Black safety, and for Black futures. Like the precious stone for which it was named, Obsidian stands for our grounding on the earth, the protection of our spirits, the clarity of our vision, the legacies we carry, and the momentum that propels us forward.