Mac Collins is an artist and designer whose work sits at the intersection of rational design and conceptual art. Originally from Nottingham, he now splits his time between London, Newcastle and his hometown. With a signature style that’s narrative-rich and allegorical yet intrinsically tangible, Collins’s work spans furniture, objects, installation, sculpture and product design.
Through every iteration of his work, Collins seeks to observe and critique aspects of the systems he exists in. Inspired by the stories of his grandmother who arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush Generation, Collins explores his position in the Caribbean diaspora and contemporary British society at large. For the Harewood Biennial, which asked contributors to create a “radical act of craft”, Collins made Open Code, a Jamaican-inspired dominoes table, inside Harewood House (an English country house with historic ties to the slave trade) while The Afrofuturist Throne, created as part of Collins’ graduate project, subverts European design influences.
Alongside his design practice, Collins also lectures at Nottingham Trent and Northumbria University. He is the 2022 recipient of the Design Museum’s Saltzman Prize and the 2021 winner of the Emerging Designer Medal at the London Design Medal Awards.
Text Zsofia Paulikovics
