Cedric Mitchell Named Surface Magazine’s Designer of the Day
by cedric mitchell
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In June 2023, Surface Magazine named Cedric Mitchell its Designer of the Day, spotlighting the path from Tulsa and hip-hop to glass, Los Angeles, and an expanding multidisciplinary design practice.
The feature arrived at an important point in my development. I was building a visual language through functional glass, sculptural objects, homewares, and lighting, using electric color, simple geometry, and references pulled from Memphis Milano, graffiti, 1990s pop culture, music, and streetwear.
Those ideas would continue to grow into what I now call Modern Funk.
Cedric Mitchell. Portrait published with Surface Magazine’s Designer of the Day feature.
Surface Magazine’s Designer of the Day
Written by Ryan Waddoups, the Surface Magazine profile introduced readers to my life inside and outside the studio. The interview covered what I make, the ideas shaping the work, the importance of representation in glass, and the projects that were beginning to move the practice into new territory.
At the time, I described my work as a mix of decorative and functional glass across tabletop objects, lighting, and homewares. That foundation remains, but the language has continued to expand through collectible sculpture, furniture, interiors, and larger cultural collaborations.
Read “Designer of the Day: Cedric Mitchell” in Surface Magazine.
From Hip-Hop to Glass
Music was my first creative language.
I discovered glass while recording music in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That unexpected introduction led me into a glassblowing class, an apprenticeship, teaching, and eventually a move to Los Angeles to establish Cedric Mitchell Design.
The connection between music and glass never disappeared.
Rhythm shows up in the repetition of forms. Improvisation shows up in the process. Movement shows up in the way objects stack, balance, lean, and interact with the space around them.
The material changed, but the instinct remained the same.
Developing the Modern Funk Design Language
Surface recognized the combination of electric color and direct geometric form that was becoming central to the work.
My influences have never existed in a single category. Memphis Milano and postmodern design sit alongside graffiti, hip-hop, 1990s streetwear, childhood iconography, architecture, and the visual culture I grew up around.
Modern Funk brings those references together without treating them as nostalgia. It is a living design language built around bold color, playful geometry, movement, asymmetry, and objects with personality.
Glass is at the center, but the language is not limited to glass.
The Enjoué Bottle Collection
In the Surface interview, I identified the Enjoué Bottle Collection as one of the most important projects I had designed at that point.
The brightly colored bottles were inspired in part by Ettore Sottsass’s Bharata series. I developed them through a Venetian cane technique, reworking the process through my own approach to color, pattern, proportion, and form.
The collection grew from an artist residency at the Corning Museum of Glass and represented a significant step toward defining my voice within contemporary glass and collectible design.
The Object Lounge With Heath Ceramics
The feature also captured the development of The Object Lounge, a presentation created in partnership with Heath Ceramics.
The project brought together decorative glass objects developed during artist residencies in New York, Seattle, and New Orleans. It became a space for experimenting with form, texture, color, and pattern while considering how individual objects communicate as a larger environment.
That way of thinking, moving from the single object toward a complete world, would become increasingly important as the practice expanded into furniture, lighting, mirrors, and interiors.
Representation and a Career in Glass
Surface asked what problem my work addresses.
My answer centered on visibility and equity.
When I entered glass, there were very few widely recognized Black glass artists available as reference points. Building a sustainable and visible career allows other makers of color to see another possible path through the field.
Representation is not only about appearing in the room. It is about authorship, ownership, access, longevity, and the ability to shape the conversation.
That remains part of the work today.
From Glass Artist to Multidisciplinary Designer
The 2023 Surface Magazine interview documented a transition already underway.
I was beginning to develop original lighting and collaborate across disciplines. Since then, Cedric Mitchell Design has continued moving between functional glass, collectible sculpture, lighting, furniture, drinkware, interiors, and cultural projects.
I still work through the intelligence of glass: its color, transparency, heat, risk, and movement. But the goal is larger than any single material.
The goal is to build a complete Modern Funk world.
Read the Surface Magazine Feature
Surface Magazine’s Designer of the Day profile captures a key moment in the evolution of Cedric Mitchell Design: a Tulsa-born artist building a Los Angeles practice through glass, color, culture, and a determination to create new reference points.
Read the complete Cedric Mitchell interview in Surface Magazine.