September is Detroit’s much-anticipated Month of Design. Organized by Design Core Detroit, it is packed full of events celebrating the city’s industrial design, photography, arts and crafts, fashion design, graphic design, architecture, and all things Design. As we soak up the last few moments of summer and embrace the clarity of autumn, this wonderful month highlights the city as the up and coming center for creativity and industry that it has become.
The Detroit Month of Design schedule of events can be found here.
As part of the celebrations, Jeevak was invited to speak in the Detroit Center for Design and Technology’s “Design Talks” series. Jeevak spoke alongside two other creatives that are enriching the maker culture of Detroit: Lynne Avedenka of Signal Return, and Jim Stevens of Lawrence Technological University’s College of Architecture and Design. The topic of last week’s discussion was “Designs on Technology”.
Jeevak spoke on the discipline of Industrial Design as a whole, which inherently combines design and technology to create beautiful products. He explained how a design must always be a product of the context in which it will be used – from the overarching culture, down to the minute preferences of the target user. He also explained that as the context in which our products are used is constantly changing, Industrial Designers continually face the challenge of creating, improving or modifying products that will continue to meet the needs of the user in today’s context.
The audience created a personal and conversational atmosphere. In the atrium of DCDT, the whitewashed walls, concrete, steel beams and high ceiling were, themselves, reminiscent of the intersection between the technical and the artistic. The full wall windows on one side gave the feeling of being encased in a bright box of creativity shining out onto sidewalk and the curious passersby. The discussion time that followed the presentations was enriched as dialogue flowed not only between all three panelists, but also between members of the audience as they fed off each other.
One of the most important parts of the discussion was the group ideation on how each of the designers’ work could affect and interface with the other. For example, the discussion covered how Jim’s democratic 3D printing and laser cutting technology could be used in creating plates for a printing house like Lynne’s, and how the same manufacturing technology could affect the choices of industrial designers as they consider the potential manufacturing processes and costs needed to produce products. In addition to these connections, printmaking and industrial design are both techniques of creative messaging – just applied differently. They are both physically and visually declaring a message.
Engaging in events like DCDT’s Design Talks as well as with all the events during Detroit’s month of design are like discovering the chamber of yellow-hot rock just beneath the surface and realizing an eruption is coming. This is Detroit. As members of the creative community, we urge you to come see the vibrant culture of invention and collaboration. Come engage with the collective who are shaping the future of the city. Come witness all the individually inconsequential meeting of minds that, together, build a revolution.