Raleigh’s Creative Dialogue

Raleigh AIGA’s “Raleigh Design Mixer” is a new initiative to bring dialogue between unrelated designers to discover common ground.
This month’s speakers were Matt Tomasulo from City Fabric  and Matt Griffith from In Situ Studios

You might ask “What could a T-shirt company have in common with an Architecture studio?”
Vision.

Matt Griffith shared with us the story behind in situ studio, which he started one year ago with Erin Sterling Lewis. “In situ” refers to something placed in the most natural position, which is a philosophy that the studio embodies in their work. In situ’s vision is to use architecture to bring communities together. They have been working with community partners such as Exploris Middle School, Raleigh City Farm and NC Solar Center.

Griffith began his career working with Marlon Blackwell and local hero, Frank Harmon. His vision to start a studio with Erin provided no guarantees for success. Their shared desire to craft their own unique approach to design , however, has proven worth the risk. Through hard work and persistence, in situ has enjoyed an engaging first year of practice and is looking forward to many more.

Matt Tomasulo also began with a vision. By printing city maps on T-shirts, he wanted to engage communities to talk about where they live. He began CityFabric without any certainty of success, but because of the unique nature of his mission, his story became viral on the web. With his launch of a Kickstar Video , his story gained the pledges of nearly a thousand supporters. With this new support, Matt is looking to expand the number of cities that he is printing.

Follow in situ @in_situ_studio and City Fabric @Cityfabric to join Raleigh’s creative dialogue.

My vision for the Raleigh Design Mixer is foster collaboration and dialogue in Raleigh’s creative community. After experiencing the success of our first event launch, I am looking for new Designers to share their story. AIGA Raleigh is looking for Designers who demonstrate unconventional commonalities with other creatives. If you would like to speak or attend our next Raleigh Design Mixer in January, please contact:

Tim Rosenberg
@timhrosenberg
tim@dreamingtiger.com