ABOUT ELEVATOR
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Founded in 1999, Elevator is a design studio working in a variety of media.
A frequent collaborator, Elevator's work is inspired by the nexus of design and complex local and global issues - urban and local cultures, social innovation, technology, sustainability, to name a few. Our work makes connections between everyday life, teaching, writing, the process of making, the idea that design can be an agent of change. Elevator has directed projects for culture, entertainment, architecture, education, technology, pharmaceutical and sport markets. Elevator also works as a mini idea lab. We question design, make concrete things, collaborate, co-create, up-cycle old products into new forms, repurpose materials, photograph everyday type in Detroit or Helsinki or wherever. An instructor at the College for Creative Studies, founding partner Salonen also encourages students to work with grassroots Detroit organizations, local institutions, urban installations, and design activism. Conceptually, we're interested in the cultural significance of elevators – how they create social situations and patterns, how cultures shift through old and new technologies, innovation and need. We see an elevator as a metaphor for design – the process is like a continuum from one level to another with a lot of ideas in between. Elevator design makes connections between thinking and making, between idea and finished work. |

LEVEL 3 / INFO