CR: Explain the Detroit Miscellaneous Society (DMS) and why it doesn’t exist anymore?
NB: The Detroit Miscellaneous Society was comprised of several individuals. We formed sort of organically. Our goal was to come together to pool our conceptual and physical resources in order to work on projects that we wanted to create that didn’t really fit into any type of category. The group was composed of myself, Gina Reichert (architect, founder of Design 99), Shar McLeod, (designer for the Michigan Citizen Newspaper), and Corine Vermeulen-Smith, (photographer from Holland). In the beginning, graphic designer Danielle Aubert and architect Alexis Kim were also contributors. We first started getting together and just talking, talking for hours and developing idea lists that grew quite large. One of the early ideas discussed in the preliminary stages was Design 99; at that point Gina was just conceptualizing that project. (more…)
In the late 19th Century the world was changing rapidly. Machines were replacing a workforce once powered by men and women. As mass-produced items became more readily available the craft behind the arts of furniture making, home building, and textile design began to disappear from every day knowledge thanks to the convenience and prevalence of the machine. In response to this major shift toward automation was born the Arts and Crafts Movement (1880-1910). The artists behind the Arts and Crafts Movement hand-crafted work in rebellion against the soullessness of industrial age products and processes.
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In his book Organizing Genius (Basic Books, 1998), author Warren Bennis declares the age of the empowered individual ended. He goes on to note that ‘collaborative advantage’ is what matters now, then proceeds to distill several examples (from Disney Animation Studios to the 1992 Clinton Campaign) where this team-oriented organizational structure is put to work and successful. The moral of his story: When like minds work in tandem, the possibilities are immeasurable.
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