Inside the new Studio Museum in Harlem, New York

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.

There is much to take in. An ‘Assemblage’ chair by Charles O Job greets visitors in the fifth-floor reception, while Ini Archibong’s ‘Iquo’ chair appears in both the café and the rooftop terrace designed by Harlem-based landscape architects Studio Zewde. In the trustees’ lounge, a chair by Michael Puryear sits alongside three works by Sefako Tolu. Peter Mabeo’s ‘Kalahari’ credenza anchors the conference centre, while Stephen Burks contributes chairs for both the lecture hall stage and the reading room.

The placement of each work reflects deliberate curatorial choices, shaping how people move through and gather within the museum. ‘All of the spaces in our building were designed with the public in mind,’ Golden says. ‘Areas like the stoop and the reading room were created intentionally for communal gatherings, leisure, reflection and conversation. These furnishings complete these spaces in various ways, in many cases inviting our visitors to rest or spend time with the museum and the artworks on view. They also signal that art extends beyond traditional expressions and materials.’ In practice, this translates into spaces designed to welcome people to sit, talk and spend time together. The museum is now not just a place to see exhibitions, but also a civic space where Harlem’s community can convene, converse or soak in a quiet moment of peace.

The Studio Museum has always served as a multifaceted platform for African artists, and this project now extends this ethos into design. ‘Since our inception, the museum has remained committed to artists from the African continent, whether they live on the continent or in the diaspora,’ notes Golden. ‘So it made sense that the decision-making around our furniture would remain within this institutional framework. Uplifting designers who are immersed in African and African diasporic traditions makes it possible for us to continue engaging in the ideas, conversations and influences that emerge from the continent, whether of past, present or future.’

This commitment is legible in each object. Mabeo’s Gaborone-based studio works with local artisans to realise furniture embedded in Botswanan culture, while Archibong’s practice draws from his Nigerian heritage, and Collins’ ‘Iklwa’ stool references the Zulu spear from which it takes its name.

If there is a through-line across these works, it is that they serve both form and function. They are made to be used, sat upon, leaned against or gathered around. Yet they also carry meaning and ancestral memory. For Golden, this is precisely the point: the Studio Museum has always sought to broaden definitions of art while, at the same time, presenting works that are grounded in lived experience.

The new furniture ensures that the museum’s history and mission are woven into its fabric. The furnishings are not secondary to the art on the walls – they are part of the same continuum. They connect the institution’s mission to its architecture, and its architecture to the daily lives of those who, from the grind of the Harlem streets, will now integrate it into their daily routines.