Drinks x Design: Creative Cities
Detroit Historical Museum
Detroit, Mich.
June 5, 2025
In 2015, Detroit became UNESCO’s first – and still only – City of Design in the United States. Design Core Detroit, which supports the growth of Detroit’s creative economy, has kept that design spirit flowing with monthly Drinks x Design events, which have been going on for over a decade. These free events – which take place the first Thursday of the month – are an opportunity for local creatives to connect with each other while learning about different designers and creative organizations happening throughout the area. They also showcase different local spaces by hosting the events at a different site each month.
I’ve been attending Drinks x Design off and on for years; its most recent event at the Detroit Historical Museum was one of my favorites. This month’s theme was “Creative Cities” with a focus on other UNESCO Creative Cities.
In the museum's Allesee Gallery of Culture, some of the cities highlighted included Iowa City and Seattle for literature; San Antonio and Tucson for gastronomy; and Santa Fe and Paducah, Ky. for crafts and folk art. Puebla, Mexico, and Montreal, Canada, were also recognized as other UNESCO Cities of Design in North America. Panels with images and creative bios for the cities were displayed, and representatives from some of these places gave brief introductions.
In the museum’s Streets of Old Detroit basement exhibit, a handful of smaller creative organizations hosted booths, some selling their wares – like handcrafted clothing and sweets – or simply using the opportunity to introduce themselves to the creative community. Costume and fashion designer Seamstressbee had a series of models in beautiful translucent, ethereal gowns in Earth tones walk throughout the event to showcase her work.
Two of my favorite booths had interactive crafts. Bit of Denim was creating a Detroit-themed patchwork denim dress. They gave participants a square denim patch and black marker to write what they loved about Detroit before sending them to an adjacent booth to embroider their initials. Nearby, event organizers set up a simple stamping booth where visitors could stamp their own Drinks x Design cards.
Through my wanderings, I learned about the Progressive Art Studio Collective, which supports artists with disabilities, and Someday LC3/We Will, a partner organization creative studio and bakery.
As much as I love learning about different creative endeavors, one of my favorite aspects of Drinks x Design is visiting different locations throughout the area. Many of these places I’d never heard of before. Some are normally inaccessible to the public. Others I’d just never gotten around to visiting or hadn’t been to in a while. In the case of the Detroit Historical Museum, I’m sad to say it had been years since my last visit; many of the exhibits felt new to me. In between checking out the creative vendors and reconnecting with professional acquaintances (the networking is great at these events), I perused the museum’s Motor City Music exhibit, which highlighted Detroit contributions to Motown and techno. Across the way, I also checked out its America’s Motor City automobile exhibit, which had displays from the earliest days of the auto industry and a replica factory set up. The museum’s darling Streets of Old Detroit exhibit features old-timey streets and storefronts representing different historical periods of Detroit, complete with cobblestone streets, an apothecary, and barbershop.
Past events have taken me to the area’s Arab American National Museum, the abandoned Packard Plant and a multi-part downtown tour, with some innovative business offices including a conference room inside an old bank vault.
While Drinks x Design is aimed at bringing together the city’s creative community, it’s open to anyone. I encourage people to check it out at least once. It’s a great opportunity to see the city in a new way and appreciate what a cultural gem it was, is and continues to be.
