Renowned Designers Create Google Sheet Spotlighting Women- & Black-Owned Studios
Screenshot via BIPOC Studios
The lack of acknowledgment for minority groups exists in the creative world, a wakeup call sparked by recent protests fighting for racial equality. To help propel studios founded or led by women, as well as black and indigenous people and people of color (BIPOC), notable designers and architects have combined their resources to create a public Google Docs spreadsheet so more of these voices can be heard while offering job opportunities to those who may need them.
The Google Sheet, titled ‘BIPOC Studios’, was created by Off-White founder and Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh, artist Hassan Rahim, designer Mahfuz Sultan, and architects Dong-Ping Wong, Dominic Leong, Joey Swerdlin, Naïla Opiangah, Oana Stănescu, Preeti Sriritana, and critic Esther Choi.
Promoting the spreadsheet on Instagram, Dong-Ping Wong, director of environmental studio Food New York, described it as, “A live and growing list of BIPOC architecture, industrial design, landscape, graphic design, urban planning, fabrication… studios from around the world,” elaborating that “about half of them [are] black-owned and -led.”
The spreadsheet was set to public following the death of George Floyd, who was killed after being pinned down at the neck by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Contributors indicate if their studios are black-, indigenous-, or women-owned, as well as whether the businesses currently have job openings.
However, Wong encouraged job-seekers to reach out to any of the companies in the list no matter if they stated available positions. “It doesn’t mean they aren’t hiring, and trust me, you never know where an office is at week by week, including, mine,” he explained.
Edits to the document are locked, but if you wish to add to the list, you can drop an email to [email protected] with your studio name, city, Instagram handle, whether the business is black- or women-owned, and if you’re hiring. Thus far, 125 studios have been added to the lineup.
Preview the live spreadsheet below. You can also head here for the full view.
[via Dezeen, cover image via BIPOC Studios]
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