Norman Teague reimagines MoMA’s design collection

Norman Teague reimagines MoMA's design collection

Image source: Norman Teague Design Studios (NTDS).

Chicago-based designer and educator Norman Teague is a true agent for change, using design as a platform to question historic assumptions about his artform and empower Black and Brown creators to build a more diverse and inclusive future. A globally respected designer, Teague's art can also be found in permanent collections across America, including the Art Institute of Chicago and Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art. In 2023, Norman Teague Design Studios (NTDS) represented the United States at the 18th International Venice Architecture Biennale.

Earlier this year, Teague organized a solo/group exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum that drew on John Coltrane's masterpiece, A Love Supreme, to celebrate the boldness of improvisational jazz and Black aesthetics over the years and their role in inspiring creative communities of color. Working with co-curator, Rose Camara, Teague reimagined Mies van der Rohe's McCormick House and filled the prominent space with work from 35 amazing artists of colors.

"Most of the work we're exposed to as students and designers has a European or contemporary Scandinavian style. but I have yet to see pieces with African roots earn a permanent spot in the contemporary design canon," says Teague.

In his latest exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Designer's Choice: Norman Teague - Jam Sessions, Teague is bringing his vision of a more inclusive design community to an even bigger stage. With the help of Adobe Firefly, Adobe's family of generative AI models, Teague and his studio team invite us to imagine a world where iconic objects in MoMA's design collection were created by a more diverse chorus of voices. Adobe is proud to be part of Teague's mission, in keeping with our own vision for Firefly to help people from all walks of life to explore and expand on their natural creativity.

Positive change powered by AI

Jam Sessions is the embodiment of Teague's mission as a champion for Black and Brown artists and designers, and a showcase for the power of imagination and technology to drive positive change. To bring the exhibition to life, Teague, and his assistant designer at NTDS, Daniel Overbey, used the generative AI capabilities of Adobe Firefly to revisit 15 pieces in MoMA's collection from the perspective of Black history and inspiration.

Through questions like "What would happen if a Bauhaus chair was reimagined by a designer in Central Africa?" and "What if we combined the aesthetics of the Black Arts movement with design processes, materials, manipulations, and patterns of the present?," Teague and Overbey rewrote the brief for some of the design world's most recognizable objects to reflect the values of today's diverse society into the design process itself.

True to the theme of Jam Sessions, their process was loose and improvisational. After sketching out his initial concepts, Teague passed them on to Overbey to be modelled in CAD software. Once digitized, Overbey then asked Firefly to interpret the reimagined versions of MoMA's design pieces and propose new trajectories for each object based on a variety of imaginative prompts.

For instance, one of the concepts created for Teague's reimagined Barcelona Chair with characteristics of Ragtime included an asymmetrical third leg on the back of the chair. Overbey and Teague loved the new detail's whimsical appeal so much that they kept it in their final design for MoMA.

Creating new riffs on design classics with Adobe Firefly. Image source: Norman Teague Design Studios (NTDS).

As for the ease of using Firefly, Overbey was impressed by how quickly Adobe's generative AI capabilities allowed him to render new digital design models. It previously took him an hour to develop a digital rendering and nail the look, texture and lighting he was looking for. With Firefly, he was able to cut that down to just seconds. Best of all, the generative-AI concepts he generated didn't just look good, they also worked as functional objects and furniture pieces.

That said, Overbey encourages fellow designers to ensure they use generative AI with intention for the best results. That means doing their research and developing a clear vision for every prompt they write. For instance, when Overbey asked Firefly to reimagine MoMA design pieces in the style of the Harlem Renaissance or the Black Panthers, he needed to know enough about those movements to make sure that context came through when typing his requests into his image-generation software.

Finally, both Teague and Overbey feel strongly about preserving the integrity of other artists' work, as well as their own. When comparing AI-powered image generators, only Adobe Firefly offered the copyright protection and transparency they required. Adobe respects copyright, so NTDS were able to create images that were as original as possible while making sure they referenced other peoples' work whenever it inspired their MoMA designs.

Drawing on his experience with generative AI to date, Teague believes technologies like Adobe Firefly can help today's designers reimagine outdated narratives of the past and make their world more inviting to the young creators of tomorrow, no matter their background.

"Early in my career I would look around design offices, see rooms full of happy White people and think to myself, why can't this also be a room full of happy Black people? What would happen if we were to wipe away all the prejudices and segregation of the past?" he says. Using AI to answer those questions for Jam Sessions brought about some very rich moments for Teague and his team, and Adobe is proud to support them in their mission to foster a more inclusive future for artists and designers everywhere.

To learn more about Norman Teague and his unique approach to design, check out the Norman Teague Design Studio website.

Adobe Firefly provides creators with a unique set of generative AI tools that were designed specifically for their needs, use cases, and workflows. Click here to learn how Firefly promotes creativity for all and discover why it offers the most creator-friendly approach to generative AI in the industry.

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