Diversify Design

04/14/2026

If you are in Kalamazoo, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art has a couple of upcoming events this week with the designer Wilson W. Smith III, the first Black designer for Nike.

The rest of us can access his great Ted Talk https://youtu.be/LKAaAZb8UvE?si=bZRpAegHGjeIEztH

I've included a photo here of one of his iconic designs, the '96 Air More Uptempo, made famous by Chicago Bulls player Scottie Pippen.

02/25/2026

https://www.beautyinenormousbleakness.com/ is a project by Washington University in St. Louis to research and document some of the Japanese American alumni of their School of Architecture who were incarcerated in internment camps in WWII.

Beauty in enormous BleaknessThe Interned Generation of Japanese American Designers “If I hadn’t gone to that kind of place, I wouldn’t have realized the beauty that exists in enormous bleakness.”-Chiura Obata, sumi-e painter, former incarceree, and father of Gyo Obata Clipping of January, 19...

01/30/2026

The surprising 2nd life of a 1958 building whose iconic interior was designed by Helen Lui Fong

A 1958 Googie landmark by Helen Liu Fong is meticulously restored in Los Angeles. Discover how preservation and adaptive reuse aligned.