Creative, persuasive, stimulating, and versatile; design and its many sub-fields have long been applied to large-scale world issues in politics, economics, and culture. The 20th century is rich in examples of design’s influence in the shaping and the response of relevant world events, from the economical office building boom that helped spur the International Style, to the ideological and aesthetic…
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Design for Sale: Charlevoix Vineyard
Just miles from the active downtown shopping and dining district in Charlevoix, Michigan, a charming two-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom vineyard property fitted with a turn-key winery operation rests on 13 rolling acres of beautiful Northern Michigan land. Established in 2007, the commercially licensed winery produces small batch wines from estate grown grapes and is certified with the Michigan Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program,…
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MDRD in cityscape
The skyline in Grand Rapids, Michigan could be considered one of the most changed in the Midwest, with development projects and creative moments of design found around most corners of the downtown core, which spreads along western Michigan’s Grand River. It is a burgeoning travel destination with a bent for hospitality, with several recent hotel projects hosted in hospitality families…
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Design Corner: Work Tents
Steelcase Inc. recently introduced a new solution in flexibility and privacy, known as Steelcase Work Tents. The architectural space divider designed for the office environment delivers the comfort of the camping tent to the workplace. Created in collaboration with a world-class tent designer, Steelcase Work Tents are meant to bring a sense of spatial security and enclosure to commercial spaces,…
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Offshore
In the redevelopment of a historic and lakefront treasure on the western edge of Lake Michigan, Navy Pier Inc. unveiled a bold, comprehensive plan that repositioned Chicago’s Navy Pier as an ever-evolving “People’s Pier” for the 21st century and re-envisioned the landmark as an iconic destination and vibrant civic space. It called for the renovation and enhancement of existing structures…
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L’atelier de mode
Silk. Lace. Glamour. For RC Caylan, fashion designer and studio founder of RC Caylan Atelier LLC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, fashion design is about timeless beauty, simple elegance, and meticulous detail. Silhouettes are well-tailored, fabrics are luxurious and intentionally meant to add texture or soften overall creations, and vintage glamour, bold statement, and dynamic movement bring each piece to couture…
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Classic reborn
In a former industrial campus along Massachusetts Avenue in Indianapolis housing one of the largest Coca-Cola bottling factories in the world, a new mixed-use site known as Bottleworks District recently opened and has set down roots as a new hospitality and entertainment epicenter. The district, a nearly $300 million, 12-acre transformative initiative, is the largest private development of its kind…
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Natural energy
From daytime textile designers to moonlighting developers of sustainably dyed fabrics, the trio behind the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Eso Studio are driven by a passion for textile design that has come to include equal parts art and science. Inspired by the renewal energy of nature and committed to the act of reusing, the designers form a studio dedicated to natural,…
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Designed for generations
From a collaborative, interactive design approach transforming architecture at the speed of ideas, to its status as a Tribally-Owned, 8(a) and HUBZone certified, and Small Disadvantaged Business, Seven Generations Architecture and Engineering LLC is a unique business in its small hometown of Kalamazoo and state of Michigan. The firm was founded in 2012 by Mno-Bmadsen, the independent, non-gaming investment arm…
