Black Artists + Designers Guild Collaborates with Pottery Barn on a Vibrant Home Decor Line

"This looks like joy," interior designer Penny Francis says of the first collection the Black Artists + Designers Guild has made with Pottery Barn. "No matter what background we come from we love to celebrate family, we love to laugh and dance." Francis was one of the four BADG members to work on the Pottery Barn capsule, which includes bedding and tabletop.

They began working with Pottery Barn on the Obsidian virtual house project, a concept that imagined spaces for Black families created by Black designers, when the home decor brand signed on as a sponsor. Once the project was complete, Pottery Barn asked BADG to continue the partnership with this capsule collection for spring.

The designers began by word-mapping, picking adjectives that would sum up the emotions of the decor like celebrate, dance, joy, and laughter, then choosing colors and motifs, drawing on the African Diaspora. For example, the hand-painted pattern on the dinnerware is drawn from a shield motif used in Cameroon and Nigeria, and the color pallete is inspired by New Orleans, where Francis is based. The main themes for the collection revolve around family and friendship, and the strong bonds that love can create (appropriately, Francis's daughter Casi St. Julian also worked on the collection along with Lisa Turner and BADG founder Malene Barnett). Everything in the capsule, from the dinner settings to a backgammon set, is about bringing people together to celebrate. "It is a labor of love," says Francis. "It is colorful, and happy, and inspirational." Shop the new BADG x Potter Barn collection, below.