Three graduates of the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and a professor recently launched a design firm called Thing Thing and moved it Detroit.
Simon Anton, Rachel Mulder, Thom Moran, and Eiji Jimbo met each other in Ann Arbor. After working in a U-M design studio for a few years, the foursome knew they had something special, which turned into
Thing Thing.
"It was a shared interest and a really good working dynamic that inspired us to start an design practice," says Simon Anton, co-founder of Thing Thing.
The four partners describe Thing Thing as an "experimental design practice" because it takes industrial technology and recycled materials and finds new ways to turn them into cool new products. It's currently developing a series of lights it wants to release as its first product later this year.
"It (Thing Thing's way of doing business) allows us to find new uses for things that we can make our own," Anton says.
Thing Thing made the move to Detroit last August and has spent that time immersing itself in the Motor City. The group currently lives in Boston-Edison and has a work space at 1252 Edison St in the North End. Thing Thing's team is also working in the
Detroit Creative Corridor Center’s Creative Ventures program to build out its business and become more engrained in Detroit’s emerging creative community.
Source: Simon Anton, co-founder of Thing Thing