Michael Ford x Momentum Collection || How Hip Hop Architecture Is Reshaping Commercial Interior Design
Architecture and hip hop have always shared the same raw material: the transformation of environment into experience.
With the Michael Ford x Momentum Collection, debuting at NeoCon 2026, that connection moves from philosophy into physical form, producing five high-performance textiles and wallcoverings that bring the rhythm, motion, and cultural depth of hip hop directly into commercial interiors.
The collaboration pairs Momentum, the largest U.S. supplier of contract textiles and wallcoverings, with Michael Ford, FAIA, architect, educator, and founder of BrandNu Design Studio. Ford's guiding principle, "Design for the Collective Good," runs through every decision in the collection, from pattern conception to a commitment that a percentage of sales will fund Hip Hop by Design scholarships.
The five patterns draw on hip hop's foundational techniques of sampling, rhythm, and movement. Two are bio-sourced, carbon-neutral Circon Type II vinyl wallcoverings; three are jacquard upholstery fabrics. Together, they range from restrained neutrals to bold, celebratory colour fields suited to workplace, hospitality, and education environments.
Breakin’ is a Circon wallcovering based on a playful digital sketch by Ford’s six-year-old son Mason.
The most personal origin story belongs to Breakin', a Circon wallcovering based on a digital sketch by Ford's six-year-old son, Mason. Asked to draw breakdancers, Mason produced a field of figures, wiring diagrams, and flowing lines that capture the kinetic energy of bodies mid-cypher. That sketch became a wallcovering. Its upholstery counterpart, Dance Off, scales the same motif to complement seating, rendered in an oversized boucle yarn with a silky lustre that lifts the pattern off the canvas ground weave.
Flow Chart, the second wallcovering, translates rhyme structures and cadences from a lyrical analysis process developed by Ford and conducted by students at his Hip Hop Architecture Camp® into a rhythmic field of floating rectangles. Cypher, a jacquard fabric, encodes repeating fragments of the phrase "I AM HIP HOP" into a near-checkerboard geometry, originating in a 2023 community mural project in Madison, Wisconsin, where Ford created an abstract alphabet to honour local residents. Bronx Composition, the fifth pattern, stretches a pixelated slice of a group photograph from the first Hip Hop Architecture Camp® in the Bronx into a full-width jacquard stripe, treating colour the way a DJ manipulates samples.
Above: Michael Ford with the Flow Chart wallcovering design. Below: The Dance Off collection.
“This collection with Momentum is rooted in the work I do with young people across the country through Hip Hop By Design and in the architectural work we lead at BrandNu Design Studio. My goal was simple: to let these fabrics and wallcoverings carry the rhythm, motion, and honesty of hip hop while still serving the needs of designers and the spaces they shape.”
Above: Bronx Composition is a large-scale jacquard stripe inspired by the first Hip Hop Architecture Camp in the Bronx, created by stretching a pixelated slice of a group photograph into a full-width stripe — treating the colours the way a DJ pulls and manipulates samples from a crate. Below: Cypher is a jacquard fabric encoded with repeating fragments of the phrase “I AM HIP HOP” abstracted into a geometric, almost checkerboard pattern.
Ford founded the Hip Hop Architecture Camp® in 2016 through his nonprofit Hip Hop by Design™, introducing young people to architecture and design through music and creative problem-solving. In December 2025, he received the AIA Whitney M. Young Jr. Award in recognition of his contributions to expanding access and diversity in the profession. His current projects include the Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx and the Memphis Hip Hop Museum.
Michael Ford pictured with the Breakin’ design.
For Momentum, the collection extends a track record of culturally grounded artist collaborations, adding Ford to a roster that includes Shantell Martin, Yinka Ilori, and Rebecca Moses. Jennifer Nye, Momentum's Chief Marketing and Creative Officer, frames it plainly: "The collection invites the A&D community to engage with design that is authentically connected to culture and built to perform."
The Michael Ford x Momentum Collection will be unveiled at Momentum's showroom at The Mart, booth 323, during NeoCon 2026 in Chicago.
