B(l)ackspace Episode 4 Takes on the Business of Design and Unity in Expansion

On February 2, SCI-Arc hosted its fourth iteration of B(l)ackspace, a live podcasting recording event. After an introduction by Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Zahida Sherman, Community Engagement Coordinator Jonathan Chan, and DEI Student Ambassadors Storm Butti (B. Arch ‘25) and La’keem Timothy (M.Arch 1 '24). B(l)ackspace Episode 4 commenced with a panel discussion led by Timothy between esteemed guests Tobi Ashiru and Silas Munro. The evening also included a dynamic exhibition of work by SCI-Arc students, which guests were encouraged to peruse during and after the discussion.

Ashiru, co-founder of Poché Design Studios and professor at USC and Munro (he/they), co-founder of Polymode—a bicoastal, Black, Indigenous, and queer-led multidisciplinary design studio—covered a wide range of topics throughout the panel’s lively conversations.

After a vibrant musical welcome, including Kendrick Lamar’s "Real" featuring Anna Wise, began the fourth episode recording of B(l)ackspace, the theme of which focused on “pushing identity and creative expression [here] at SCI-Arc.”

Ashiru, whose Los Angeles-based firm Poché is described as rooted in architecture and fueled by creative empathy, shared that she and her founding partner “occupy the black space in design, but we wanted to do more than that. We wanted to amplify it as well, so that ties in with our mission and vision—[starting] off as freelance best friend designers, and now we're a full-fledged design studio with seven dope Black women moving the mission forward.”

Continuing with the conversation about friendship and community as being fertile ground upon which to build creative vision, Munro shared that their firm Polymode began not only out of their thesis at CalArts, but from a connection with their business partner, who, “when I met him, was wearing a Boy Scout uniform with a rainbow patch on it. He was an Eagle Scout, but he got kicked out at the time because they didn't support gay people. And I was like, ‘This guy is going to be my friend.’”

As for the work Polymode does, Munro added: “We focus on pretty much anything that has typographic or graphic voice, so motion, identity, exhibition design. We love doing publication design, and anything with identity systems, looking at how the designer's identity connect[s] to what we make.”

Shifting into their approaches to the business aspect of their design practices, Ashiru cautioned that from a practical and economic standpoint, “unfortunately, we all exist under capitalism, so we all have to make income in some way, shape, or form to pay the bills that we all have. But the promise in architecture school is that if you do all the right things, you will get a great job at a firm,” however, she argued, that’s not always the case, advocating for alternatives to traditional routes following architecture school.

“Having these other ways to make money that isn't dependent on job that pays me because job that pays you can be gone tomorrow, I think is super important; it's something that I'm still learning,” she added.

Furthering the dialogue around representation in architecture, Munro spoke about an experience they got to participate in recently called Black Crit, organized by Schessa Garbutt. “They have organized these groups of different artists coming together from a Black experience, and giving each other critiques, and it was one of the most healing experiences that I've ever been in, where you didn't have to explain.

Regarding how SCI-Arc students themselves can create a sense of power in community, they explained, “I think one of the other things that you can do is organize and create your own structures in space adjacent to SCI-Arc, or adjacent to wherever you are. And that can be a really powerful exercise. It's not something I thought of, but [Schessa] did. And it changed my life.”

The panelists wrapped up by acknowledging the student work in the featured exhibition, “I just found it really inspiring to see all the different mediums, the performance art, video, collage,” commented Munro. “It shows you really that proper design training can allow you to make kind of anything you want.”

Tobi Ashiru is the Co-founder of Poché Design Studio a Los Angeles based remote design agency and a dedicated architecture professor at USC. She seamlessly blends her architectural expertise with impactful design. Her creations extend beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture, with clients generating over 7 figures in funding using assets created by Poché, she continues to transform ideas into successful ventures through design. Tobi's designs not only captivate visually but also bridge the gap between design, empathy and real-world impact, making her a notable force and disruptor in the design space.

Silas Munro is a designer, artist, writer, and curator. He is the founder of the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC-owned graphic design studio Polymode based in Los Angeles and Raleigh that works with clients across cultural spheres. Commissions and collaborations include: The New York Times Magazine, MIT Press, Nike, Airbnb, the Brooklyn Museum, Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Art Institute of Chicago, Dia Art Foundation, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Munro is the curator and author of Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest which opened at Letterform Archive in 2022–2023. He was a contributor to W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America and co-authored the first BIPOC-centered design history course, Black Design in America: African Americans and the African Diaspora in GraphicDesign 19–21st Century. Munro is faculty co-chair for the MFA Program in graphic design at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.