SELF-HOUSED: RETHINKING DESIGN PRACTICE IN A CRAFT-ORIENTED FUTURE
Stephen Burks Man Made
Part of the MIT Spring 2026 Architecture Lecture Series.
Presented with the Architecture and Urbanism Group and in collaboration with the Morningside Academy For Design (MAD).
Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper, partners in the interdisciplinary practice Stephen Burks Man Made, have been on the move. From communing with a remote village outside of Dakar to better understand the Earth's largest non man-made structures; to exploring the markets of Kinshasa to document an ancient textile art; to residing in a forest river valley in the Nara prefecture to manifest the spirituality of wood, Malika and Stephen have found themselves self-housed on four continents in the last 12 months.
Their lecture-cum-travelogue will consider the role of the designer in the 21st century. Namely, how does one engage with the world as a creative agent outside of the traditional studio paradigm? How can the Eurocentric ways of knowing that have informed design pedagogy and practice be challenged by shifting the focus to a majority world context? And why is collaboration a fundamental prerequisite for extending craft traditions into the future? In addition to Kuba Sugi, The Lost Cloth Object, and In Search of Kuba—a trilogy of projects building upon their research into the raffia textile arts of the Kuba Kingdom—Malika and Stephen will also present Objects of Belonging, their contribution to the US pavilion as members of the curatorial design team for the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Biography
Partners Malika Leiper and Stephen Burks of the interdisciplinary studio Stephen Burks Man Made have forged a unique approach to design at the intersection of craft, community, and industry. Their workshop-based practice, spanning objects, furniture, lighting, and exhibition design, embraces the challenge to advocate for hand production as a strategy for innovation. Dubbed “the globetrotters of design”, Leiper and Burks have traveled to over twenty countries across six continents to build strategic partnerships between artisans, non-profit organizations, and commercial brands, linking them within systems of interrelation that extend craft traditions into the future and contribute to a more inclusive and pluralistic vision of design.
Recently, they co-curated the US Pavilion exhibition PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, where they presented Objects of Belonging. Their contribution of furniture and objects, notably a collection of quilts co-created with the Gee’s Bend Quilters, emphasized creativity as a tool of resistance among underrepresented communities in the American South.
The forthcoming exhibition Designing Dynamism co-curated and designed by Stephen Burks Man Made will celebrate the raffia textile arts of the ancient Kuba Kingdom with historic artworks alongside the premiere of their craft-driven short film In Search of Kuba. (Mint Museum, February 21- August 23, 2026).
This lecture will be held in person in Long Lounge, 7-429 and will be streamed on YouTube.
Lectures are free and open to the public. Lectures will be held Thursdays at 6 PM ET in 7-429 (Long Lounge) and streamed online unless otherwise noted.
