Virgil Abloh

Virgil Abloh (b. Rockford, Illinois, 1980 – 2021) was an artist,  architect, engineer, creative director, and fashion designer. After earning a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he completed a master’s degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. It was here that he learned not only about design principles but also crafted the principles of his art practice. He studied a curriculum devised by Mies ven der Rohe, who also designed the core campus. Virgil Abloh was the Chief Creative Director and founder of Off-White between 2013 and 2021 and Artistic Director of Menswear at Louis Vuitton from 2018 to 2021. In 2019, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago dedicated to Abloh’s manifold practice a comprehensive exhibition entitled Figures of Speech. The exhibition was subsequently shown at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston and at the Brooklyn Museum, New York. The Vinyl Factory first collaborated with Abloh to commission and produce the installation RUIN, a collaborative work with designer Ben Kelly, which was staged at 180 Studios in 2018. A year later, The Vinyl Factory co-commissioned Abloh to create 12-inch Voices, a sound installation in the form of a pink boombox, which debuted at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris.