Virgil Abloh Contributes IKEA Chair in Support of Racial Justice Groups

Virgil Abloh is one of a number of artists contributing pieces for an auction organized in support of racial justice groups.

Abloh has contributed a piece circa 2019 that will be illustrated on and signed, with the auction winner’s name also set to be added to the design. The starting bid for the piece, a Virgil Abloh x IKEA MARKERAD chair from Abloh’s “personal archive,” is $1. At the time of this writing, the total number of bids was nearing 50, with the current high mark at $1,400.

The chair is part of Design Yard Sale’s auction, all proceeds of which will be given toward organizations “engaged in dismantling racism.”

In a statement detailing the auction, which also includes pieces from Outpost Office and more, organizers said the goal with this initiative is to use their “creativity and skills to assist the Black community right now in projecting its voice.” Additionally, organizers said, the world of design “must” rethink its long-term plans with regards to assisting in the fight against racist practices, both within the industry and beyond.

“The recent murder of George Floyd has given rise to a new wave of mass protests against systemic racism and police brutality directed at the Black community,” Design Yard Sale organizers said. “Racial injustice and inequality have been a centuries-long battle fought by the Black community daily around the world. Countless Black lives—Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray, to name a few of too many—have been violently taken by the incarnation of this systemic oppression: the police.”