To kick off our North American Design 2024 series, which highlights independent furniture and object designers in North America, we showcase 10 studios creating unique objects in Detroit, Michigan.
The first piece in our weekly series, which will draw attention to design studios in and around metropoles on the continent, focuses on the "lively and very creative design culture" of Detroit, where studios are making furniture made from the ruins of buildings and 3D-printed objects that draw on Turkish craft techniques.
Michigan has always been a hub for design, with powerhouses of furniture production such as Herman Miller located in the western part of the state. Detroit's automotive history, and before that ship-making and stove production, is also a continuing influence. While the large furniture manufacturers of Grand Rapids have continued to produce goods, Detroit's industrial culture has changed as the city experienced economic downturns in the later 20th century.
"A lively and very creative design culture"
Although Detroit is known for its automobile production, and its carmakers continue to fuel high levels of research and development, the city has a strong handcrafted tradition.
"At the same time the automobile was making Detroit one of the most important cities in the world, the arts and crafts scene supported handcrafted production," Cranbrook Art Museum director Andrew Satake Blauvelt told Dezeen.

Read: This is...