Chocolate Cake Design Collective renovates toy factory on east side

A group of nearly a dozen College of Creative Studies graduates (and one from Michigan Technological University) are carving out a maker space in a century-old toy factory deep on the east side. Welcome to the Chocolate Cake Design Collective.

"We are artists looking for a place to make work where we have an opportunity to work in different mediums," says Danielle Denha, a member and co-founder of Chocolate Cake Design Collective.

The group of artists are renting about 11,000 square feet on the second floor of an old toy factory/warehouse on Van Dyke Avenue near McNichols Avenue in the area of City Airport. In that space, the Chocolate Cake Design Collective members are building spaces for wood working, metal fabrication, printing and other artistic forms. Many of the tools, such as a circa-1909 Chandler & Price Co. paper cutter, have been scrounged from places like Detroit Public Schools surplus auctions.

The Chocolate Cake Design Collective moved in during July and have since created the a clean, eclectic space with lots of elbow room. The downside to the cheap space are heating systems that work sporadic, electric systems that flicker and a roof that can be practically porous. The artists are still optimistic about the space and have received a $2,500 Fuel Detroit grant from the Detroit Foundation to further their efforts.

"We're just trying to work around the building and the leaks problem right now," Denha says. "We're hoping it will work out."

Source: Danielle Denha, a member and co-founder of Chocolate Cake Design Collective
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.