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Assorted patterned textiles, color swatches, and a spool of yellow thread are arranged on a beige surface by Michael Ford for Momentum.
For Ford, the new collection with Momentum is rooted in the work he does with young people across the country through Hip Hop By Design. He notes that some patterns began with moments from camp, and others grew from sketches and phrases from his daily life. Courtesy Momentum

June 5, 2026

Michael Ford and Momentum Find a New Way to Express Hip-Hop Culture

Ford’s new textile-and-wallcovering collection brings rhythm to commercial interiors. 

By: Nigel F. Maynard

Michael Ford stands in front of a large black garage door, holding a rolled blueprint on his shoulder with more unrolled plans at his feet.
Michael Ford is an architect, educator, and the founder of BrandNu Design Studio, a practice that combines architectural design with cultural research and community engagement. In 2016, Ford founded the Hip Hop Architecture Camp, a program run by his nonprofit, Hip Hop By Design. He is currently working with Gensler and Ralph Appelbaum Associates on The Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx, slated to open later this year. Courtesy Momentum

How do you translate hip-hop music and culture into design? For his newest collaboration with commercial textiles and wallpaper brand Momentum, architect Michael Ford aims to do just that.

Inspired by the world of beatboxers, ballers, and B-boys, Ford distills the essence of the culture into a range of colorful textiles and wallcoverings with patterns that represent the music genre’s energy.

“My whole career has been dedicated to this intersection of hip-hop and architecture,” the principal and founder of BrandNu Design Studio says. “What this collaboration with Momentum allowed me to do was tell the story of the textures, the patterns, and the rhythms that you find within the elements of hip-hop in a way that’s not literal, but in a unique way that speaks to the innovation, the genius, and extracting that from the culture.”

A child in a blue outfit jumps joyfully on a striped sofa with multicolored pillows, set against a geometric-patterned wall.
“My goal was simple,” says Ford. “To let these fabrics carry the rhythm, motion, and honesty of hip-hop while still serving the needs of designers and the spaces they shape.” Each of the five patterns pulls from a different part of hip-hop culture, whether that be movement, typography, or sampling. Courtesy Momentum

Ford’s partner in rhyme (as it were) was his son, Mason, who used his dad’s digital tools to draw figurative breakdancers represented by kinetic lines. This design eventually became the Breakin’ wallcovering. “We doctored them up and modified the colors, but it’s all based on the original sketch that he created, which was about movement and flow and mimicking breakdancing,” Ford says.

In addition to Breakin’, the collection includes Jacquard textiles Cypher (available in ten colorways), Dance Off (nine colorways), and Bronx Composition (seven colorways), as well as a Circon wallcovering called Flow Chart (six colorways). 

The collaboration with Ford is very much on brand for Momentum, which has a history of approaching artists and designers with a deep story to tell, says Jennifer Nye, the company’s chief marketing and creative officer. The list includes Italian architect and designer Emanuela Frattini Magnusson, British visual artist Shantell Martin, Polish textile designer Aleksandra Gaca, and London-based artist and designer Yinka Ilori, among others.

Michael Ford and his son, Mason, sit on chairs in front of a colorful, abstract-patterned wall, facing each other and smiling.
The artwork for Breakin’ (shown on this page) began as a sketch by Ford’s son Mason. Ford says the pattern he designed carries the same sense of motion the original sketches convey: “The lines twist, turn, and collide like bodies in a cypher, creating a textile that feels alive and full of energy.” Courtesy Momentum

“We try to find [designers] that speak to something inside of us, who are good people and they’re designing for good,” Nye explains. 

An unapologetic “hip-hop architect,” Ford is focused on opening up opportunities for historically marginalized communities that do not see themselves represented in the architecture world in any meaningful way. His Hip Hop Architecture Camp, a ten-year-old program through his nonprofit, Hip Hop by Design, introduces young people to architecture and design through music and creative problem-solving. The hope is that it will pave a pathway into the design profession for emerging talent.

As for the new collections, Ford hopes specifiers use them in unexpected ways. “You know, I have some ideas around the Breakin’ we were just talking about,” he says. “I can see that in academic spaces, especially K–12, where young people are learning. That is an ultimate nod to my son.”

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