Hanging from the ceiling are the names of those who influenced and inspired fashion designer Virgil Abloh in his short life, who died so young: rappers Soulja Boy and Lauryn Hill, singer Ella Fitzgerald, trumpeter Miles Davis, Nigerian Fela Kuti, who founded Afrobeat as a musician, as well as the basketball player Michael Jordan and the writer Akua Njeri, among many others.

They all have one thing in common: they are black, like Abloh, who died in Chicago last November.

He was the first African American to take over the artistic direction of men's fashion at a French luxury fashion house, Louis Vuitton.

Shortly before his death, the bright orange rope ladder was created, the individual steps of which adorn the names of the personalities.

The title of the work:

Peter Philipp Schmitt

Editor in the department "Germany and the World".

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The work is part of an exhibition at the Kreo gallery in Paris, which is called "step by step".

A number of famous designers have tried their hand at ladders.

A number of designs such as Marc Newson's Carbon Ladder have already become modern classics.

The Australian designed the super-light and yet very stable ladder made of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic in 2008, and Karl Lagerfeld also owned one of the black wall-rests.

The Swedish designer duo Front (Anna Lindgren and Sofia Lagerkvist) use a Tree Ladder to commemorate their childhood when they both climbed trees.

As if by chance, they have joined branches together to form an artistic climbing aid.

The Frenchman Pierre Charpin also lets us climb up a very simple wooden ladder.

He crowned his Lassu Ladder with a mirror,

The London Calling library ladder by the German designer Konstantin Grcic was also created in 2014. He was inspired by the old red double-decker Routemaster buses that, in the early 1990s, when Grcic was studying design at the Royal College of Art in London after completing his carpentry apprenticeship, drive through the metropolis.

What was particularly striking for him were the spiraling, narrow stairs that led up, which the native of Munich often climbed in order to be able to explore London from the first row of seats.

He modeled the stairs for his ladder in solid oak.

Just this year, the Dutch textile artist Hella Jongerius designed her hanging ladder Twisted Steps, which she knotted together from wool, linen, paper and nylon threads, among other things.

This work was also created for Galerie Kreo.

Most of the limited works by more than 20 artists and designers can be seen in Paris until November 5th.