As small, independent firms pop up around the city and design-related events unite a network of hopeful, inspired creatives, a variety of observers sees how the design industry is helping to fuel a renaissance inside Detroit, Sarah Whitman writes in How, a national magazine that covers the world of design.
“In Detroit, design will serve as a catalyst to our resurgence,” says Tim Smith, CEO and president of Skidmore Studio, Detroit’s oldest design firm. “Detroit’s motto is ‘Resurget cineribus,’ which means ‘we shall rise from the ashes.’ Design thinking is the process that will allow us to accomplish that goal.”
One of several creative outlets profiled in How is the Signal-Return Press in Eastern Market:
Among the traditional design firms and institutions in Detroit, there are other, more unusual, creative ventures such as design collectives, hands-on shops and even studios operating solely to serve clients invested in improving cities.
One of the most popular design destinations is Signal-Return Press, inspired by Nashville’s Hatch Show Print. Located in Detroit’s bustling Eastern Market, the 3,000-square-foot letterpress shop offers classes, lectures, live music and more to not only designers, but also other creatively inclined individuals who learn about the shop during their weekly trips to the six-block public market.
“We looked around at a lot of locations in Detroit and ultimately chose Eastern Market because it’s a natural crossroads. Tens of thousands of people come in from all over the region every Saturday morning to shop the market. It seemed smart to give them a chance to buy some art, too,” says Toby Barlow, founder and chairman of Signal-Return Press and chief creative officer for Team Detroit, an ad agency in Dearborn, MI, that counts Detroit-based brands like Ford, Lincoln and Bosch among its clients. “The name was something the original launch team came up with. The idea is that a ‘Signal-Return’ is the response one gets when sending out a radio broadcast. It’s a sign of life.” Which is exactly what Detroit needed when the outfit opened in winter 2011.
