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Detroit

By Luke Beard

February 25^th, 2018

I’m Not sure what I expected

Detroit has been fascinating to me ever since I moved to the US in 2014. A city that my small British town thinking considered part of the American industrial fabric. Cars, grit and overtly angry sounding people (at least in movies). In reality it was gutted by the recession, has been recovering ever since in a big way and everyone I met was super nice.

I've always wanted to visit and thankfully Mac love's Detroit in a very exciting way and asked if I wanted to tag along for a weekend trip. I'm not 100% sure why we chose to visit in February (missed a huge snow storm by just a week) but I think it certainly added to my experience of the city.

Overwhelmingly I felt equal parts amazed and sad by the end the weekend. Detroit is a city seeing a-lot of change but ways to go. I highly suggest a visit.

First stop: Shinola

485 W Milwaukee St

Though various means (a classic James Nord hookup) I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Shinola office from Creative Director Daniel Caudill. I highly suggest reading up on Shinola and why they call Detroit home. Seeing all the manufacturing happening in house was really something, truly inspiring.

The question isn't why you'd build a watch factory in Detroit, it's why you'd want to see American jobs go anywhere else. Through five Detroit winters, we've been working to bring manufacturing jobs back to Detroit and back to this country. We build our goods to last, but of all the things we make, American jobs might just be the thing we're most proud of.

Shinola - Our Story

Flagship store

I'm an absolute sucker for details in retail. The Shinola flagship is no less than a store, a coffee shop, a high-end audio listening room, a bike shop and a florist. Safe to say I spent 2 hours there and the staff somehow did not mind me taking too many photos.

Floyd

I also swung by Floyd's and crashed their brand new office setup. I've been a fan a long time (I have their bed system) so it was awesome to sit down with co-founder Alex O'Dell and hear about their ambitious plans to change the way we buy furniture for our homes.

The contrast

While my first day in the city was spent seeing the great stuff being built and the businesses being grown we spent our Saturday driving around parts of the city that were hit the hardest when the economy crashed and the population shrunk.

Michigan Central Station

A building seemingly straight out of a Wes Anderson film or a Batman comic. This station once moved 5000 people a day. It's currently undergoing renovations.

Quite the spectacle in person to see in person.

The detroit foundation hotel

The most amazing project I saw during the weekend was The Detroit Foundation Hotel. A fire station built in the 1920's and now home to an amazing hotel, bar and restaurant (developed by Aparium). This place was incredible inside and out. From the branding to the interior design. Everything had the perfect design to really lift the space to something else.