Designer and writer Andrew Shea was on hand at last week’s Design Conversation and he wrote a post about it for Core77. From the post:

Every month or so, a diverse group of Baltimoreans gather to talk about design of all kinds. In the past, these Design Conversations, have focused on sustainability, food, and bikes, but the most recent conversation was about invention. Design writer Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson MC’d the event, which featured an eclectic lineup of speakers who talked about how to spark those ever-elusive eureka moments.

Read the rest of the post by clicking here. (And check out the killer photos by D:center collaborator extraordinaire, Marian Glebes.)

And learn more about the work of Baltimore-based designer and writer, Andrew Shea, by visiting his Web site.

Inna Alesina and Ellen Lupton, who are speaking at tonight’s Design Conversation at The Wind Up Space at 6:30 pm, were featured on Maryland Morning today and Tom Hall gave a shout out to tonight’s D:center event. So did Baltimore Brew. And the City Paper!

Visit Maryland Morning’s site for more on the interview with Inna and Ellen and click here to see sample spreads from Inna and Ellen’s new book Exploring Materials.

Also, check out the nice piece about the D:center written by Elizabeth Suman for Baltimore Brew. If you’re not familiar with this Web site, it’s worth bookmarking. Baltimore Brew brings news and stories from around Maryland to the Web, all written by seasoned journalists (many former Sun writers make up the bylines). The site, which was founded by Fern Shen, earned a nod from City Paper last year for its depth of coverage.

The Baltimore Sun reported today on the city’s efforts to create a new Arts & Entertainment District on the West Side and on the D:center’s participation in the process. You can read more by clicking here.

Design Conversation #18: Invention

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

6:30 – 8:30 pm

The Wind Up Space, 12 W. North Avenue

The line up for April’s design conversation is finalized and it promises to be an exciting evening. The theme for the night is “invention” and we will look at how we can spark Aha! moments and create new creative connections. Invention will be explored from three angles: the brain, materials, and collaboration.

Neuroscientist Charles Limb will discuss his breakthrough research on the brain as it relates to creativity and jazz.

Ellen Lupton, designer, writer, teacher, and curator of contemporary design at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Inna Alesina, product designer and teacher, will showcase projects from their new book, Exploring Materials : Creative Design for Everyday Objects. They will encourage us to see everyday materials in new ways while expanding our materials vocabulary.

David Peloff from the Johns Hopkins Center for Emerging Technology will tell us how he collaborated with the Applied Physics Lab to bring NASA technology to the creation of a cutting-edge virtual learning environment being piloted in Baltimore public schools.

As always, this event is free and open to the public. Special thanks to the Baltimore Community Foundation for its support of these conversations and to The Wind Up Space for being our gracious host.

About the Baltimore Design Conversations:

D:center Baltimore is a new organization composed of a broad cross-section of disciplines and individuals invested in improving and encouraging design—in all its iterations—in the Baltimore region.

Each month the group hosts a Design Conversation at the Wind Up Space in Station North. The event is a casual gathering that is free and open to the public. It is supported by the Baltimore Community Foundation as well as the hard work of a core of dedicated volunteers. Each Design Conversation is curated by an individual or a team of people and is organized around a theme related to design, architecture, community building, urban planning, and city life. (For a list of upcoming themes click here.)

Local and national participants are invited to address the evening’s theme in order to stimulate a dialogue among audience members. Since it launched in 2008, the Design Conversation has spurred creative projects across the city through a number of collaborations born at the event. It has also stimulated a recognition of shared interests and existing projects around the city and the country.

D:center Baltimore joined MICA’s Center for Design Thinking and Urbanite magazine in co-sponsoring a panel discussion on humanitarian design on March 11. The event, which I moderated, brought together some of the top designers working in the field today including Emily Pilloton of Project H. I recapped the evening in my monthly column online at Metropolis magazine. Check it out…

Nothing—not even well-intentioned design—is above reproach. The confluence of organizations and individuals working to bring design practice to those who might not normally get it seems to have hit a critical mass, and with it comes the inevitable backlash. In an entry written last fall on his Design Altruism Project Web site, David Stairs lit a firestorm of debate when he argued that “social networking has struck the design world with the force of the Indonesian tsunami bringing changes of sorts, but no guarantees of lasting change.” READ MORE HERE.

IMAGE: A design by Baltimore-based architecture studio PI.KL for a design-build competition sponsored in Dallas. Called Re:Vision Dallas, the competition slogan stated: “The Future of Cities Starts Now…One Block at a Time.”

One of the most common concerns among architects (and others) in Baltimore is the dearth of creative clients willing to take risks on buildings. I propose that the D:center becomes that client.

The D:center’s inaugural event becomes a design-build competition set on developing a prototype building or structure for vacant infill. The parameters of the competition encourage progressive environmental and economic approaches and the result is a completed building. The city would be a key partner, helping to identify the location and develop the competition structure.

To cultivate the clients of the future—and to engage the general public in a recognition of their own power to effect place through design—a strategic PR campaign will pull citizens into the mix. There will be a public component to the competition (perhaps a cash award to the People’s Choice architect team, similar to that given by the Baker Awards). Citizens are actively a part of the process and are encouraged to rethink their role in designing their city. A slogan for such a campaign could be—Meet Baltimore’s Newest Developer: You.

In this way, the D:center begins to transform the city into a lab of actionable design while also transforming the way we all relate to our built environment.

Emily Pilloton, founder of Project H and recent Colbert Report guest, hit the road on Friday for her Design Revolution Road Show. On Thursday, March 11, Emily and her Airstream trailer will be in Baltimore and D:center Baltimore is co-hosting a panel discussion at MICA.

DESIGN REVOLUTION: JOIN THE DEBATE

Thursday, March 11, 6:30 p.m.,* Falvey Hall, Brown Center, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.

THIS EVENT IS FREE!

Debating how the issues of social justice and advocacy will impact the way artists conceive and execute their visual environment, a panel of top designers and editors looks at the future of design practice. Panelists include Emily Pilloton, founder, and Matthew Miller, project manager, of Project H Design, a non-profit dedicated to bringing product design to those who need it most; John Bielenberg, founder of Project M, an immersion program created to inspire young graphic designers, writers, photographers and other creative people to do work that can make a difference; and Julie Lasky, editor of Design Observer’s Change Observer section, which covers socially aware design. Baltimore-based architecture and design writer Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson will moderate the discussion.

This panel is a part of the Design Revolution Road Show, an initiative of Project H Design that is traveling across the United States with an exhibition of humanitarian products that empower people and improve life. The exhibition trailer will be open for viewing before and after the panel discussion. The lecture is co-sponsored by D:center Baltimore and Urbanite magazine.

*Note time change.

Just got some interesting news from the designers of Hampden-based Gilah Press + Design. You have a chance to have your artwork transformed into a letterpress print!

READY SET is a limited edition collection of prints that will be designed by you and letterpress printed by Gilah. Of all submissions received, only ten artworks will be selected for inclusion in the finished limited edition boxed set. Entries will be judged for concept, design, illustration, and typography. The theme is “Fly” and is open to your interpretation. Deadline for submission is February 12.

For more details, click here. And to learn more about the work being done by Gilah Press, check out this blog post I wrote a few weeks back for Metropolis magazine.

So how to translate the rural studio concept to the city? There’s a good model at Carnegie Mellon. Their Urban Studio was founded in 1963 and it uses Pittsburgh, where the university is based, as an integral part of student learning. From their Web site:

Through its programs, the Urban Lab provides interdisciplinary education in hands-on ‘real life’ contexts. It engages public agencies, elected officials, the private investment sector, and citizens, to jointly research and find solutions to community issues.

Until recently, our own regional design schools did not spend much time outside their respective campuses, but that is starting to change as MICA, Morgan, University of Maryland College Park and others look to develop community-based projects in the city.  (I’m writing a bit about this in the October issue of Urbanite magazine, so stay tuned for that article).

How might we develop valuable urban studios in the city? How can the various disciplines, schools, practitioners, and funders work together for the most impact? And most importantly, how do we get this integrated into the way building and planning and design happens in the city? I’m curious to know what people think…

What about someone we would not normally consider to be an “urban thinker?” Planetizen left the definition vague on purpose:

We invite you to be creative and suggest urban planners, architects, artists, or everyday people. Author Upton Sinclair, for instance, would be a legitimate choice for his work as a muckraker and social activist in the city of Chicago. Reaching back to historical figures like Vitruvius or figures outside of the Western canon is also highly encouraged. Have fun, and as another Chicagoan once said, vote early and vote often.

Contribute your vote by clicking here. And feel free to discuss here as well…