BOOSTER SEAT

Furnishings at the new purpose-built home for New York's Studio Museum in Harlem sit in harmony with its mission as an uplifting platform for artists of African descent

- TOM SEYMOUR

When the Studio Museum in Harlem reopens this month, much of the attention will fall on the building itself.

Designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson, the new 82,000 sq ft space is the first purpose-built home for an institution that, since 1968, has served as a forum for artists of African descent. For Thelma Golden, the museum's director and chief curator, the architecture is only part of the story. What fills the building - the artworks, the conversations, and even the chairs, tables and stools - matters just as much.

'The great joy of having a new, purpose-designed building is that we had the opportunity to curate our spaces in direct alignment with our mission as the nexus for artists of African descent, locally, nationally, and internationally,' says Golden. 'This meant that we were able to make our mission visible wherever possible, including in our furnishings.'

To achieve this, the museum turned to designers working at the intersection of furniture, craft and cultural expression: Ini Archibong, Charles O Job, Stephen Burks, Mac Collins, Michael Puryear, Peter Mabeo, Marcus Samuelsson, and Sefako Ketosugbo and Tolu Odunfa Dragonë of Brooklyn-based studio Sefako Tolu. Their work now anchors communal spaces across the museum. 'These incredible designers exist within, and have contributed to, an expansive definition of art – Black art, in particular – that includes furniture design,' says Golden.