Hasta La Ideas

We’ve been championing the new design enterprise bubbling in Detroit—from Dave Seliger’s Route 77 Motor City wrap-up to coverage of Maker Faire Detroit and of course showcasing work from CCS students. But it’s the work of the people on the ground that get us most excited about design opportunities coming out of Detroit.

Longtime Coroflot member Brook Banham and his partner Judith Grubinger Banham recently announced the opening of their design studio, Middlecott, in the historic Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit. The husband and wife team are kicking off their new venture with an Open Studio and Sketchbattle this Friday where designers compete to the sounds of DJ Reverend Robert David Jones and DJ Guttertrash Evan. Guests get to vote for their favorite sketches at the end of each heat. Prizes include signed material from Scott Robertson and Syd Mead as well as some art materials from Utrecht.

Sketchbattle, click for full-size flyer!

As part of the 2nd annual Detroit Design Festival and DC3, the event promises to be a great opportunity for the larger design community in Detroit to get together and celebrate. On this occasion, we took the opportunity to talk a bit more with Brook about Detroit, design and music!

Middlecott Design Studio Opening + Sketchbattle
Penobscot Building, Studio 2100
645 Griswold
Downtown Detroit

Core77: People have a lot of preconceived notions about Detroit. What are some exciting things going on in the design landscape of the Motor City?

Brook Banham: The Motor City is where its at, seriously. Its fresher here then in any other city in America and maybe in the world. Just about no other city can offer what Detroit offers, affordability and an extrememe entreprenureal spirit, these two probably go hand in hand. The entrepreneurial spirit is fostered by all sorts of creatives moving into the city which makes a very diverse and available skill set. If you need something fabricated in metal, wood or rapid prototyping and CNCed, it’s all here. The low overheads and the community spirit make such services very approachable. The economy often works with a barter system because nobody has any cash in the city. All of this is would not be possible in other cities like Boston or San Francisco.

Designers here can take greater risks in their creative approach. In Detroit, designers have a low overhead so they can afford to break out of the mold more easily. You may pay 1/10th of the rent you might pay in a place like San Francisco, which allows you the flexibility and freedom to do what you really want. We just leased a 21st floor 1500sq/ft studio space in the beautiful Penobscot building for the fraction of the price that it would cost in Boston or even Mumbai.

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