International design community collaborates with Detroiters on Culture Lab product line

Members of the international design community are coming to Detroit this Thursday, Oct. 29, to celebrate the launch of Culture Lab Design, an exclusive line of "green space"-themed products for the home. The products are collaborations between internationally-renowned and Detroit-based designers, a result of Culture Lab Detroit programming. The products will be available to the public at the Midtown store Nora from Oct. 30 through Nov. 15 and range from $65 to $2,000.

Jane Schulak, founder of Culture Lab Detroit, curated teams of outside and local talent to design unique products for the home. The pop-up shop is being hosted at Nora, itself a store selling "thoughtfully designed housewares, jewelry, gifts, and accessories." One of the Culture Lab Design product designers, Brooklyn-based David Stark, is also designing the pop-up space at Nora.

"Literally a grass roots project, our store-in-store structure will house products from designers that I have great respect for, all relating to the land," Stark says in a statement. "Truly exciting."
 
  • Stark has also teamed with Detroit ceramicist Victoria Ashley Shaheen to create a variety of glazed flower rests that sit atop glass vases.
  • New York-based interior designer Kelly Behun has partnered with Cass Community Social Services to re-purpose discarded tires as hanging planters.
  • Fernando and Humberto Campana, interior designers in Sao Paolo, and Todd Erikson of College for Creative Studies have designed a cast aluminum 4" x 11" vase.
  • New York's Sebastian Errazuriz and Detroit's Samuel Arambula have produced Rock Lamp, photo luminescent lamps powered not by electricity but by high grade phosphorescent material.
  • Paola Navone, an architect and designer from Milan, teams with Andrew Ward of Line Studio for April Planter, a cement planter for garden centerpieces. Navone also teamed with Detroit Denim Company to create Mario Overalls, functional overalls for garden use.
In anticipation of the pop-up, Nora has commissioned a number of additional Detroit-based designers, producing more than a dozen home products to be sold alongside the featured collaborative works.

Nora is located at 4240 Cass Ave., Ste. 109, in the Auburn building.

Writer: MJ Galbraith

Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith.
Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.

Read more articles by MJ Galbraith.

MJ Galbraith is Model D's development news editor. Follow him on Twitter @mikegalbraith.