May 2026 featuring Movement Festival

Our photos from October with Chandra Moore of coG-Studio at Lafayette Tower are now up!

Chandra talked to us about other architects who inspire her, coG-Studio’s work with Quinn Evans and Smith Group JJR at Lafayette Tower and what keeps her inspired. She loves to see ideas that have never been attempted before, especially ones that encourage more interaction with spaces in different ways.

Join us November 1st for our first birthday!

For the October 4th edition of CreativeMornings/Detroit, Chandra Moore of coG-Studio, will be speaking  on the theme of Play at Lafayette Towers- West. Registration for the event begins at 8:30am, the talk begins at 9:00am and will finish at 10:00am.

coG-Studio is an architecture firm that is dedicated to creating spaces for  youth, wherever they live, learn, and play. Chandra and her team  approaches every project with strong research and critical thinking to recreate relationships between structures, objects, and environments. Currently, the team is working with Quinn Evans and Smith Group JJR to create an atmosphere for young professionals at Lafayette Tower. The towers are part of the housing development designed by Mies van der Rohe.

Free tickets will be available on September 30th. Please register here!

Can you tell us about your early influences in art and design?

I was always interested in architecture and design since I was in sixth grade. I use to cut out images from Architectural Digest and create my own spaces. I still have majority of them till this day. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parents. I am beyond grateful for their support and advice.

Please share your thoughts on creating and operating a creative business in Detroit.

Creating a business in Detroit is great! It is much easier to do than in most states and it is wonderful for many creatives. Being an architect in the city at this current time can be exciting and challenging due to finances, construction time, and politics. As architects, we collaborate with everyone, from the contractors and engineers to the interior designers in order to build, design and coordinate all aspects of a building, it is important that the form and function work together. Although I am originally from California, I continue to stay in Detroit because I believe in this city; there is so much potential here. I was brought here to design the RiverWalk and it is amazing to see all the changes downtown! It is exciting to be in Detroit–the improvements are bold, different, and the best part is they are getting done.

Describe your creative process.

We take our clients through a very fun and innovative workshop process. As for our creative process in the office, we start with just understanding the space and what it wants to be. We then have design charrettes with the team.

What does creative innovation mean to you?

Challenging the reasoning behind standard designs and principles, in order to create a viable solution.  It’s like acknowledging the reality of a “thing” … and changing it to become better … it’s what I call “virtual reality”.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received or given?

I’ve received great advice from family, friends, and mentors since I began this journey. The advice that keeps me going is to trust your gut. Some call it your spirit or even your instinct. Whatever you want to call it, trust it and move forward.

The morning was perfect for our mobile edition of CreativeMornings/Detroit for August’s global theme of Urbanism! Andy Didorosi of The Detroit Bus Company took us through Midtown, Woodbridge, Delray, Southwest Detroit, and back to Great Lakes Coffee. Andy pointed out areas of the city that inspires him, with both historic and personal stories about places that he loves. He emphasized the importance of discovering and exploring your city with a lens of respect and knowledge of context.

In addition to the urban to suburban bus service and various tours that The Detroit Bus Company provides, Andy informed us about the programs that connect youth in the city to after school and summer programming. There was also a moment when the attendees were able to mention projects they were working on in Detroit. One of the projects mentioned was Mariners Inn, a resource for men recovering from substance abuse.

It was exciting to learn about projects that are making Detroit better and the contributions of those that have came before. Such as the contributions of Detroit mayor Hazen Pingree who established farms in Detroit for immigrants in the city to feed their families in the 1890s.

Detroit has always had challenges and will continue to have challenges, but it is important to keep interacting with our communities and our neighbors to see what creative and innovative solutions we can collaborate on together.

We had an excellent time with Andy touring our city and we hope to catch The Detroit Bus Company for a tour very soon! You can see more photos of our August CreativeMornings/Detroit on our Flickr page!

creativemornings:

This Friday, our Detroit chapter is kicking off our August theme month about Urbanism with Andy Didorosi and The Detroit Bus Company. Andy will sharing his creative process and speaking about urbanism within the context of Detroit.

Besides The Detroit Bus Company, Andy is an owner of many other organizations and including Paper Street the arts and business campus: The Thunderdrome!, a local racing series; Wireless Ferndale, a free community wifi project; and BuildingMinder, a property maintenance, management and asset liquidation company.

Find out more about the event here.

We are so excited for this mobile edition of CreativeMornings/Detroit on Friday! Were you able to get a ticket?

RSVP now for a mobile edition of CreativeMornings/Detroit with Andy Didorosi of The Detroit Bus Company! We will gather at Great Lakes Coffee on Woodward at 8:30 and leave on a Detroit Bus Company bus at 9:00. Andy will be speaking to us about the CreativeMornings global theme of Urbanism, his creative process and a bit about some of the places he loves in Detroit! We will return to Great Lakes Coffee at 10:00. Be sure to RSVP as space is limited!

For the global theme of space, Patrick Thompson spoke about his firm’s creative process in developing Kresge Court into a welcoming, public space! More photos can be found on our Flickr page.

Join us on August 2nd for the next CreativeMornings/Detroit!

Our speaker for this month’s theme ("Space") is Patrick Thompson of Patrick Thompson Design. We visited Patrick and his team’s design studio in Midtown, Detroit this week (talk about work space envy) and asked Patrick four essential questions about how and why he became a designer and what types of design he admires:

1. CreativeMornings/Detroit: Patrick, you have told us a little before about how you came to design through craftsmanship first. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you made the jump to design and what the inspiration was?

Patrick Thompson: I originally thought the only way to get into this field was by way of construction and crafting. When I was working a carpenter after my first bachelors degree, I used to to eaves drop on the architect/ owners and designer meetings.  I would find something to work on as close to their meetings as possible just so I could listen in. I remember always having opinions of my own on how they could solve whatever problem or concerns they were discussing. It was so difficult for me to keep my mouth shut. A couple of times  I added my two cents and everyone n the meeting would pause and shoot me the " the who the hell is that guy look" and move on.  This is when I knew what I wanted to do. I was 24 years old and figured it out.- I interviewed several designers and architects and decided that design was more up my alley.

2. CreativeMornings/Detroit: What is the one thing that people most underestimate about the power of great design in our working and living environments?

Patrick Thompson: I think people don’t understand the impact good or bad design can have. Materials, lighting, planning all makes a major difference in the user’s experience.

3. CreativeMornings/Detroit: Outside of the spaces that PTD has designed, what is your most favorite space in Detroit and why? And then what about beyond Detroit- in the world?

Patrick Thompson: I would have to say the lobby of the Guardian Building is one of my favorite spaces to visit in the city. I never grow tired of it. There is a Four Seasons Hotel in Budapest that is located in the old Gresham Palace and the lobby at the Public hotel in Chicago are two of my favorites.

4. CreativeMornings/Detroit: In one sentence, how would you describe your creative process?

Patrick Thompson: My creative process is always different and needs to happen naturally. Cheesy but true.

Join us tomorrow, Friday July 12th, in the Kresge Court of the Detroit Institute of the Arts to hear more from Patrick and to view the beautiful redesign of the space that he and his team have created. Check-in starts at 8:30am, and the event starts at 9:00. www.creativemornings.com

I love this Illustration from our CreativeMornings HQ for this month’s theme of space! For July 12th, Patrick Thompson Design will be talking about the redesign of The Detroit Institute of Arts’ Kresge Court into a Cultural Living Room! Free tickets will be available on July 8th!

On July 12th, Patrick Thompson of Patrick Thompson Design will be speaking to us about Space and the creative process behind the redesign of Kresge Court at The Detroit Institute of Arts! (photo by Michelle and Chris Gerard) As usual, free tickets will be released Monday before the event, on July 8th!

June Detroit Creative Mornings, a set on Flickr.

Our photos for June’s CreativeMornings/Detroit at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit with Amy Kaherl of Detroit SOUP, Nicole Rupersburg of Eat It Detroit and Devita Davison of FoodLab Detroit are now up!