Claire Nelson talks design, collaboration, and Detroit’s changing spirit

Claire Nelson is more than just the owner of Midtown’s Bureau of Urban Living (and a helpful friend of Model D) — call her Midtown’s quintessential good neighbor. Co-founder of the Open City forum on small business entrepreneurship, she’s headed more projects than we could count, and it’s rare to find a Midtown biz owner who hasn’t benefited from her counsel.

Click here to read the Detroit Unspun blog’s revealing chat with Nelson, who came to Detroit with a background in urban planning. As she says, opening a business in Detroit isn’t exactly DIY — it’s DIO (do it ourselves). That passion for creating community in lieu of competition might be Nelson’s greatest gift to Midtown.

Excerpt:

“Over the last four years, we’ve seen dozens of Open City participants open their doors — Wheelhouse Detroit, Supino Pizzeria, Curl Up & Dye, Leopold’s Books, City Bird, Good People Popcorn, City Living Detroit, 71 POP — with more on the way. Even better, all of these businesses have paid it forward, helping mentor and support other new businesses around them. A lot of people talk about the DIY spirit in Detroit, but I think it’s really more “DIO” — ourselves, plural, together.”

Get the spirit here.