House Proud: Black Interiors and Architecture Across Continents and Centuries (Pre-Order)

HOUSE PROUD: BLACK INTERIORS AND ARCHITECTURE ACROSS CONTINENTS AND CENTURIES

Published 1 September 2026 | RIBA Publishing |

Signed pre-order exclusive only available on The Cornrow. 

EARLY REVIEWS

"Fascinating, groundbreaking and utterly gorgeous. I love this book."
Bernardine Evaristo
"Every word of this book is a balm. I have been waiting my whole life for this combination of glorious beauty, cultural recognition and expansive knowledge."
Afua Hirsch

Every home tells a story. In House Proud, writer and curator Kemide Lawson shows that Black homes tell one of humanity's most enduring and sophisticated stories, of life rooted in nature, community, joy, and the sacred.

Across history and around the world, House Proud reveals the design culture of Africa and the African diaspora: from the Tamberma Tatas of Togo and Benin and the chattel homes of Barbados, to the grandeur of the Palace of Sans-Souci in Haiti and Madam C.J. Walker's New York retreat, to the inspiring contemporary homes of Black people living with intention today. Collectively, Black homes emerge as sites of resistance, innovation, heritage and power.

It is a story with the power to change how we understand the spaces we live in today. Yet despite their transformative potential, Black-designed homes have been consistently overlooked in discussions of architecture and interior design.

Making this book not just timely, but critical.

For homeowners, architects, designers, and anyone who views a home as more than four walls, this book will change how you think about the spaces you live in and make your own.

INSIDE THE BOOK
House Proud travels across four chapters, arranged not chronologically but by intention. 

Chapter One - Ancestral Intelligence: The story of how our African ancestors built, organised and understood home. Here you will find  a reassessment of the so-called mud huts, repositioning mud as one of humanity's greatest building materials - with photography and analysis of some of the most extraordinary earthen homes ever built, and the ways this ancestral wisdom is sustained today.

Chapter Two - Afro Aristo: When we were kings. A journey into the homes of Black royalty and the self made millionaires. Where extravagance was never just about money, but about Black pride and achievement.

Chapter Three - Radical Shelters. The homes Black people made in places far from home, where every obstacle stood against them. These homes - and the stories of resistance against enslavement, displacement and poverty that surround them -  are among the most inspiring homes ever created.

Chapter Four - Future Ancestors. The homes of Black people living with intention today: artists, collectors, curators - including Cottage Noir, the home of author and The Cornrow co-founder Kemide Lawson. These homeowners celebrate their Black heritage in deeply personal ways. Each home carry the threads revealed in chapter one forward today.

MORE EARLY REVIEWS

"House Proud reclaims what has always been ours: Black cultural traditions are not an influence on the story of home design — they are its foundation. This book affirms that architecture and design have always been part of our creative legacy."
Malene Barnett

"A real page-turner of an interiors book that is both important and overdue. I loved it."
Kate Watson-Smyth, Mad About the House

DETAILS
Hardback · Published by RIBA Publishing, September 2026 · Pre-orders ship on publication

[ PRE-ORDER NOW — £42.50 ]