Year in review: Barbie to Snoop Dogg, the starriest design collaborations of 2024

This was a year that design collaborations went super-stellar. Music legends Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre turned to canned drinks, with designer Ini Archibong, while singer-songwriter Solange Knowles created glamorous new glassware with Saint Heron, Barbie released furniture with Kartell, and former NFL star Michael Bennett created lighting with Gantri. The interest these well-known names bring to the design world goes beyond celebrity stardust; each project featured here is a case study in bringing a fresh perspective to a brief with an alternative view developed from adjacent industry experience. Here is our round-up of starry design collaborations of 2024.

A year in review: star-studded design collaborations of 2024

Solange Knowles for Saint Heron

In 2024, singer-songwriter Solange Knowles designed and released an exquisite trio of glasses that were available to buy from the MoMA Design Store. At the time, she spoke to Wallpaper* about her desire to democratise good design and its power to elevate mundane gestures into ceremonial moments. The glassware collection, ‘Small Matter: Form Glassware 001’, sees topaz coupes top three different onyx bases, each with a distinct personality: there's an elegant deco stem wine glass, a chunky ribbed trunk goblet, and a squat, graphic counterweight of a base for the cordial glass. Lightweight but strong, the glasses feel ceremonial and glamorous, ancient and sexy at once.

Writer Hugo Macdonald

READ: Solange Knowles on designing her new glassware collection, ‘Small Matter: Form Glassware 001’ for Saint Heron

Barbie x Kartell

Barbie and Kartell teamed up to present a series of chairs, both doll-sized and adult-sized, in collaboration with Mattel Creations. The entirely pink series brings a touch of the Dreamhouse to your own home, and was showcased during Milan Design Week 2024. Celebrating Barbie’s 65th anniversary, the design collaboration unites five Kartell chairs – ‘AI’, ‘Venice’, ‘Louis Ghost’, ‘Masters’, and ‘Ero|S|’, all by Philippe Starck – in Barbie’s fun style and distinctive bubblegum Mattel pink.

READ: Barbie and Kartell’s pink chairs are fit for dreamhouses large and small

Michael Bennett x Gantri

Michael Bennett, former NFL star and founder of Studio Kër, collaborated with Gantri to showcase the ‘Ursa Minor Table Light’, which nods to his ancestry and African architecture and design. Drawing inspiration from Bennet's own ties to Senegal, the table light echoes the Little Dipper constellation, which contains the North Star, a guiding light for the many slaves who escaped the American South, as well as countless others throughout history – a symbol of freedom and unity.

‘African heritage is full of amazing art and tradition that I wanted to explore and celebrate with others,’ the former NFL star and Studio Kër founder told Wallpaper*. ‘I got glimpses of it from my grandmother while growing up in Louisiana, and ever since, I’ve been drawn to designs that capture the spirit and strength of those who came before me. Furniture is deeply narrative for me – it's where the stories of my ancestors and my own come together in a tangible way. I love how a piece of furniture can do such a good job of telling stories that are both personal and universal.’

READ: Michael Bennett's collaboration with Gantri is a contemporary take on African heritage

Tyler, The Creator x Parachute

Tyler, The Creator’s lifestyle brand le Fleur* teamed up with Parachute to present a breezy homeware collection of pastels and prints. Le Fleur* is known for clothes and accessories that confound traditional and confining gender norms, embracing multi-hyphenate creative's own personal approach to style and identity. The brand name itself is a subtle reference to his album, ‘Flowerboy’.

The preppy lifestyle brand isn't afraid to play with colour, as evidenced by its collection of nail polishes, bright knitwear and luggage lines. Yet, its latest collaboration with Parachute brings an essence of spa-like tranquillity to the textile bedding designs. The collaboration is an unlikely matrimony that harmonises bold and bright le Fleur* signatures with Parachute's laid-back allure, and spans bedding, cushions, and an extremely soft pair of shearling slippers.

READ: Tyler, The Creator's new pastel-hued homeware collection with Parachute

Ini Archibong, Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre

When designer Ini Archibong – whose portfolio spans furniture-making, lighting, glass and beyond – was asked by music legends Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg to design the packaging for their canned drink, Gin & Juice, he jumped into the world of 2D design. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Snoop's 1993 debut album, Doggystyle, produced by Dr Dre, the canned gin drink got its name from Snoop's Grammy-nominated song ‘Gin & Juice’, and comes in a variety of fruity flavours. Archibong noticed, when browsing the shelves for a canned tipple, that drinks packaging can often be filled with large graphics, and bold colours. The California-born designer wanted to take this potentially saturated concept and spin it on its head.

Stripping back the design to four colours that signify each flavour, Archibong worked with close school friend and illustrator Wayne Johnson to hand-draw a classic lo-rider that takes centre-stage against a white background, alongside the ‘Parental Advisory, Explicit Content’ iconography that is emblematic of the era of the song's release.

READ: Ini Archibong explores 2D design with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg for new canned gin drink

Hello Kitty x Fender

There aren’t many products that haven’t been given the Hello Kitty treatment, and although this new haul from Fender (also featured in our pick of the best gadgets and tech of 2024) feels novel, it’s not the first time the cartoon cat has graced the company’s guitars. Back in 2006, the company’s Squier sub-brand brought out an ultra-simple Stratocaster, finished in pink, naturally, but with a Hello Kitty scratchplate and decals. Overlooked at first, it’s since gone on to become a cult item.

Now that Kitty Strat is back. As part of the cat’s 50th anniversary celebrations, Fender Japan teamed up with Sanrio to create an expansive limited-edition collection of items, culminating in a reissue of the Squier Stratocaster, along with a full-fat, Made in Japan Fender Stratocaster that’ll only be available from Fender’s Flagship Store in Tokyo.

Writer Jonathan Bell

READ: Fender Hello Kitty Stratocaster marks 50 years of Sanrio’s finest cartoon cat