One of Blackwood’s nonnegotiables was a spiral staircase. Seen from the entry, its curves frame a tall rubber tree from BlackBoyPlants and an antique mask from Benin, Nigeria.
Brandon Blackwood in front of the Matheus Abu painting in his entry.
When Blackwood went viral in 2020 for a mini tote bag emblazoned with the words “End Systemic Racism,” much of the fashion world thought he’d appeared out of nowhere. “When I blew up I had been in business for five years already,” says Blackwood. The young designer had been quietly and intentionally building his fashion brand since his mid-20s. “This was my first real job,” Blackwood says about designing. “Before this I was a cashier at Crossroads.” He studied neuroscience at Bard College before fashion became his primary academic and professional interest. Unbeknownst to his mother, Jamaican-born Carleen Haughton, a self-made contractor and former restaurateur, Blackwood had been spending his free time, weekends, and summers working for fashion brands and magazines. Haughton challenged her son to give fashion his all.
That same encouragement carried over to the design of Blackwood’s home, too, where Haughton acted as the contractor. Working with Urban Pioneering Architecture, Haughton corralled an all-Caribbean team of craftsmen and builders to renovate the four-story town house. “They are all so proud of me because they’ve known me since I was 13,” says Blackwood. “This house was built by people who really love me.”