Cultural Highlights from This Year’s Detroit Month of Design

This year’s Detroit Month of Design embraced the theme “City of Design” to mark the 10th anniversary of its designation as the first (and only) UNESCO U.S. City of Design and to highlight how a new generation of artists, makers, and architects are reimagining its creative landscape. With over 500 participants across 95 events throughout September, the festival’s fifteenth installment showcases the breadth of Detroit’s design culture, blending art, architecture, product, and community-driven projects.

Beyond the programming, Detroit remains driven by a sense of community and creative experimentation is undeniable. Mixed-use adaptive reuse projects like Core City and The Shepherd are shaping new gathering spaces, while a broader wave of Midwest talent is drawing fresh attention to the region’s design culture.

“Detroit’s design story is constantly evolving, rooted in a deep legacy but driven by experimentation, collaboration, and community,” said Kiana Wenzell, co-executive director of Design Core Detroit. Amy Auscherman, Director of Global Archives and Brand Heritage at MillerKnoll and an honorary curator of this year’s festival, added: “Detroit has been central to the story of modern design… The city’s enduring legacy of innovation and creativity continues to shape design culture today.”

Shepherd Arts Center in Little Village

Housed in a former Romanesque-style church, The Shepherd has been reimagined by Peterson Rich Office into a cultural hub with galleries, a performance space, and the East Village Arts Library. The 3.5-acre campus extends into restaurants, a cocktail bar named Father Forgive Me, a four-bedroom B&B, and even a Tony Hawk-designed public skate park, layering art, food, and community programming into one of Detroit’s most ambitious adaptive reuse projects.

Progressive Art Studio Collective in Little Village

Launched in 2021, the Progressive Art Studio Collective (PASC) is the first program in Detroit dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities and mental health differences. At its Little Village gallery, the exhibition “Worlds Within Worlds” spotlights Santina Dionisi, Rodney Stephens, and Lauren Williams, whose vividly narrative works draw from pop culture, anime, fantasy, and personal histories, broadening Detroit’s design conversation through underrepresented voices.

“Eventually Everything Connects” 

At the Cranbrook Art Museum, “Eventually Everything Connects” is on view through September 21, telling the stories of mid-century modern design through more than 200 works by nearly 100 artists, architects, and designers. Framed by Charles Eames’ “Eventually Everything Connects: people, ideas, objects,” the show highlights overlooked contributions by women, LGBTQ+ designers, and designers of color, while underscoring Cranbrook’s pivotal role in the movement. Touring the exhibition and Cranbrook’s grounds with curator Lyla Catellier and MillerKnoll’s Amy Auscherman made it a personal highlight.

Dabls Mbad African Bead Museum

On Detroit’s west side, Olayami Dabls has spent more than two decades transforming a block of abandoned buildings into the Mbad African Bead Museum, a kaleidoscopic landmark covered in mosaics, mirrors, and beadwork. The museum, gallery, and surrounding installations explore African material culture and storytelling, turning the site into both a community hub and one of the city’s most singular design destinations. “This installation deals with where we came from, where we’re going, and everything in between,” Dabls explains.

Matéria at Core City

In Core City, Matéria Gallery presents “Outside in the Middle,” a showcase of recycled textiles, CNC-milled wood, and craft-based pieces by Detroit designers Sophie Yan, Aaron Blendowski, Aleiya Lindsey Olu, and Bilge Nur Saltik. Blending natural and handmade elements, the show emphasizes Detroit’s unique relationship to open green spaces while questioning material longevity and sustainable design.

Cure Nailhouse

Detroit’s design culture spills beyond its calendared Month of Design. Cure Nailhouse, which opened this past July in the Sugar Hill Arts District, reimagines the nail salon as a design-forward cultural space. Founded by Cyndia Robinson and designed with Tiffany Thompson of Duett Interiors, the studio operates as both a nail atelier and artist residency, with rotating visiting artists, a forthcoming nail craft certification program, and an event programming calendar. Deep merlot interiors, a stainless steel nail bar that doubles as a cocktail counter, and art-driven details reflect a vision of nail artistry as fine art and ritual.