Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA)

While Zachary Schieffelin was selling Vespas and e-bikes in New York City he noticed that customers coming into the store would often describe their ideal vehicle to him and it was one that didn’t exist. . It would usually combine ideas from multiple existing alternative vehicles. Some wanted a vehicle that wasn’t a motorcycle, but didn’t require a lot of pedaling. Others described a vehicle that could carry a passenger, but also carry cargo. Listening to all these needs a...nd wants led Zach to create Civilized Cycles. The company’s Model 1 is an e-bike designed to carry two adults or one adult and two children for a maximum of 397 pounds. It’s a compact cargo bike inspired by early motorcycles, which allows for excellent maneuverability in traffic jams and on both city and country roads. The patented suspension automatically adjusts to perfectly match the weight on the e-bike, ensuring a smooth ride over any surface with or without cargo and a passenger! Want to learn more about Zach’s career trajectory and how Civilized Cycles came to be? Join us for a Tireside Chat with Zacharry Schieffelin on May 20 at 6pm ET by clicking this link! https://www.museumofdesign.org/calend//20-civilized-cycles

3D printing is fast, flexible, and affordable. It’s re-defining the way we conceive, design, build, and manufacture 3 dimensional objects, from tinkerers with desktop printers who are hacking consumer products to academic research organizations exploring revolutionary new applications to multinational corporations using 3D printing to streamline research and development processes. At MODA we champion 3D printing as a design tool that inspires change and makes the world a bett...er place. That’s why we put on an entire exhibition dedicated to the technology in 2015 called Designers, Makers, Users: 3D Printing the Future. Today we’re inspired by the work of Forust, part of Desktop Metal, that is building a greener future through 3D printed wood. Did you know that the most trafficked wild product isn’t ivory or rhino horns, but endangered rosewood used to produce furniture? This demand for endangered woods is putting forests at risk, but Forust has figured out how to 3D print replicas of these woods using wood waste. This new technique can replicate the grain from any type of tree with that detail throughout so it can be sanded and refinished just like any other wooden object. All that’s needed is two byproducts from the wood industry that usually just ends up in landfills, lignin and sawdust. A tree is made of lignin and cellulose, says Ric Fulop, CEO of Desktop Metal. When you make things out of trees, whether it’s furniture or paper, you’re essentially dematerializing the treewhat we’re trying to do is put that back together. Forust’s technology binds the sawdust using lignin, and other nontoxic binders, to print the object and replicate the wood grain of your choosing. And when the product eventually breaks or wears out it can be broken down and used to print something new! This is the first time you have a circular process for wood manufacturing, says Fulop.

Haven’t seen our new exhibition Bike to the Future in person and in full color yet? We have some big news! We’re opening our doors even wider in June! We’ll be welcoming visitors from Wednesday - Sunday, 12pm to 7pm each week, with walk-ins available if the museum isn’t at capacity! The number of visitors each hour will be limited and we’ll continue to practice social distancing and ask all guests to wear masks of course. We want to thank everyone so much for making our fi...rst month back in the museum a success! We’ve been so excited to welcome visitors who reserved private and socially-distant hour-long visits to MODA. It’s been great to catch up with those of you who have visited and to share our new exhibition, Bike to the Future, which showcases 21st-century bicycle design and the best bike infrastructure from across the globe. Check out our website to reserve your general admission ticket for June! https://www.museumofdesign.org/plan-your-visit

Throughout his career, Craig Calfee has continuously shaped the industry through his experimentations with materials. Beginning with perfecting carbon fiber bike frames, Calfee Design has since shifted his attention to a new material bamboo. After building the first modern bamboo bike in 1995, Calfee Design has embraced bamboo as a strong and high quality natural building material. For the smoothest ride, bamboo has great vibration damping and the best part is that you d...on't need a welding rig to make a frame out of it. This has led to the development of Calfee’s bamboo kits that are designed for a DIY project. Calfee provides you with all of the materials you need along with detailed instructions and how-to videos available online. And it even includes various layout geometries for all sizes of frames for your bike. Held together using fiberglass casting tape, typically used to help heal broken bones, the Bamboo DIY bike inspires people to work with their hands in the hopes that once they learn to build a bike they will be passionate about the sport for the rest of their lives. Want to learn more about Craig Calfee and his cutting edge thinking on bike materials? Join us for a Tireside Chat about bicycle design, on May 15 at 2pm, with Craig Calfee! Head over to our website to reserve your free tickets! https://www.museumofdesign.org/calendar/calfee

Coral reefs are known as the "rainforests of the sea" because they are among the world's most diverse ecosystems. When environmental threats like rising ocean temperatures mix with issues such as overfishing and water pollution, corals' ability to grow, reproduce, and survive is seriously threatened. Coral Morphologic is the leading creator of innovative underwater media chronicling Earth's imperiled coral reefs. Founded in 2007 by marine biologist Colin Foord and musician J....D. McKay in Miami, their artwork is informed by a scientific mission to document aquaculture and protect Miami’s (and the world’s) coral reefs. Currently, they’re working with researchers from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Miami to understand how these unusually resilient 'urban corals’ are able to thrive living along the submerged edge of the highway connecting Miami to Miami Beach. Key to this work is the Coral City Camera, an underwater camera streaming 24/7 from an urban reef ecosystem along PortMiami. By providing the public with remote access to Miami's aquatic life, Coral Morphologic aims to generate environmental awareness of, and civic pride for, the City's remarkable marine biodiversity! On June 3 at 6pm ET, join us for a virtual conversation with Coral Morphologic and celebrate World Ocean Week! Colin Foord and J.D. McKay’s will be talking about their films, psychedelic audiovisual albums, video projections, and recent collaboration with Volcom so you won’t want to miss out. Reserve your spot at https://www.museumofdesign.org/calend//3-coral-morphologic

Menstruation might be uncomfortable, messy, and something we don’t talk about in public much, but it’s a central part of life, so join us and help find ways to improve the lives of women everywhere. In this month’s Teen Jam, we’ll talk about de-stigmatizing menstrual health and hygiene. Then, current and former Georgia Tech students will guide us through a design sprint in which we develop and propose solutions to the problems we discuss, going from idea to prototyping. MODA’...s Teen Jam invites young designers to actively engage with design professionals from various backgrounds during 2-hour workshops in which they learn about design education and careers, have opportunities to ask questions, and collaborate on hands-on design activities. This Saturday, we are welcoming a special guest back to MODA! Along with her colleagues, Jasmine Burton, a social inclusion and design specialist and founder of Wish for WASH, will lead a discussion about how we can use design to take on some of the world’s biggest problems: water, sanitation, and hygiene. Wish for WASH’s mission is to bring more diverse minds, talent, and innovation to the problems of global health. Over the past 4 years Wish for WASH has been running design thinking workshops and courses with partners such as OpenIDEO, The Paideia School, The Weber School, Girl Scouts of Atlanta, and MODA as a part of their educational and advocacy workstream. Click out our website to register your young designer! https://www.museumofdesign.org/calen/teen-jam-wish-for-wash

Co-hosted by Serenbe and MODA.

Today, artist Patrick Dougherty will be speaking with our exhibitions manager and co-curator of "Learning from Nature: The Future of Design", Veronica Klucik, about sustainable and regenerative design! This month Patrick Dougherty is on Georgia Tech’s campus creating one of his site-specific, woven sculptures on their new Eco-Commons!

This week we’re kicking off a special edition of Scratch Studio, our coding workshop for young designers 10-16! Join us and learn to design, code, and share superhero games! We’re meeting every day from 4:30 - 5:30pm and it’s absolutely free!

If there are things about this world you’d like to change, design is the solution. Design can help us fight climate change, keep our loved ones safe, and correct the injustices that surround us. Design drives change, and it is the most effective tool we have in the effort to create a better world. So, imagine how the world would look if thousands of children were able to learn how to design for good. In 2021, our goal is to bring free virtual design workshops directly into the classrooms of 4,800 children. If you want to join us and become a change maker, visit https://givebutter.com/design_change.

Virtual, in-person, or hybrid learning! Going to school is tough these days, but teachers and students are doing their best to keep learning and having fun. MODA is helping! We’re offering free virtual workshops about design and STEM for Title I schools demand is huge. This week, we’ll be working with students in Atlanta and beyond on 3D design, Storytelling & Coding, NASA Design Challenges, 3D printing, and ways to re-design school spaces. It’s work we love doing! We’ve launched a holiday campaign to ensure that as many students as possible can learn how design makes a difference in the world. Check out our Givebutter page to make a contribution of any size! An investment in education is an investment in the future.

Where are all the Black designers? That’s what Maurice Cherry asked in a 2015 lecture at SXSW! His question was a response to the abysmally low number of Black people recognized as design professionals or attending design school. Even before asking that important question, Maurice was tackling issues of diversity and BIPOC representation within design and tech through his podcast, @Revision Path. In over 350 episodes, Maurice amplifies the voices of Black designers, developer...s, and digital creators from all over the world. As he told Mailchimp, the podcast is important because you can’t be what you can’t see. We all know that there’s still a lot of work to be done to build a diverse and equitable design community, so we’re tuning in to Drink in Design on December 1 to hear Maurice talk about Revision Path and what’s he’s learned through the many conversations he’s had. Join us. This event will be moderated by Floyd Hall

Design affects every part of our lives! During 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 has centered our lives squarely around our homes. They've become our sanctuaries and integral to our quest for health, holistic wellbeing and sustainable living practices. We're loving The IKEA Virtual Greenhouse! It's a series of masterclasses, live talks and interactive experiences by expert creatives in food, well-being, sustainability and botany. They're designed to help cultivate a more susta...inable and balanced life at home. Each session of the IKEA Virtual Greenhouse answers this desire, providing practical insights, from how to take care of your plants at home and tips for purifying water, to preserving seeds, making a Japanese kokedama ball or step-by-step mini terrariums. They're designed to help the many people with their personal home reboots, so that they can truly flourish. The Virtual Greenhouse creatives have developed their own hand-crafted and unique content for how people can make home a sanctuary, filming it all from their own most personal spaces be that home or creative studio.

Realizing Democracy is a campaign organized by Amplifier in order to reimagine the relationship between civil society, government, and the economy. It asks what it would take to realize the full promise of democracy in the United States of America? The campaign shows us the power of design to amplify voices that might not be otherwise heard and reminds us that the work and commitment needed to nurture a democracy that works for all people lasts far beyond the election new...s cycle. Wondering how you can help Realize Democracy? Head over to Amplifier’s website, print out some posters (they’re free!), and hang them up in public spaces, classrooms, or your home. Then join MODA on December 2nd for a virtual conversation with the Executive Director of Amplifier.org. We’ll be talking about the importance of design in social and political movements, how Amplifier has bolstered community to bring about positive change, and how you can get involved in helping to build a better future. Amplifier has organized Realizing Democracy in collaboration with the Ford-Foundation, the Center on Democracy and Organizing, Demos, and the OpenSociety Foundations. Register here! https://www.museumofdesign.org/calendar/i-dissent-amplifier

Design = Change! Interested in what’s going in our Architecture and Urbanism for Justice meet-ups but haven’t been able to attend? We gotcha! We’ve been documenting those meetings on a blog published on our website. On September 21st, 2020, MODA invited folks for a virtual meetup to learn about and discuss Design Justice, and its relevance to Atlanta. As we were designing this series, we understood that the first class would be important for determining public interest in th...e topic, as well as for prototyping ways to facilitate engaging conversations about Design Justice without being able to welcome everyone into our physical space. As a result, our focus was on introducing participants to tools we’ll be using, to various definitions of Design Justice, and to work in the field that has already been done. We began with an icebreaker meant to get people talking. On a notecard or post-it note, we asked participants to storyboard and/or sketch the answer to this question: When was the last time you left your home and why? What was your destination, how did you get there, and what mode of transport did you use? Think about the sights, sounds, weather, streets, neighborhoods, buildings, etc., that were part of your experience. You can read the full story on our blog!

Is there a young person in your life who loves to play online games? Are they interested in designing games and figuring out how to use them to make the world a better place? They’re gonna love our game design camp this Thanksgiving holiday because we’ll be using a professional game design tool, Unity, to design LEGO Microgames! Campers ages 12-18 will learn how games tell stories and connect us to one another while also honing their design skills and exploring career possibilities! This virtual camp takes place on November 23 and 24. More info about this camp and other other MODA Thanksgiving Design Camps on our website!

It's been quite a week and we all get a for making it through! Now we're headed towards the weekend and looking for ways to relax, reset, and re-channel all the activist energy we've been generating over the past days. Join us Saturday for a Notorious Cross Stitch class and exercise your admiration for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who reminded us all that we have to "fight for the things [we] care about..." It's free, fun, and a great way to focus your thoughts and lower your blood pressure!

When asked why she loves Buford Highway, her answer is simple, because it was our family’s first home. On November 17, we'll be speaking with Lily Pabian! Lily Pabian joined We Love BuHi as its Executive Director in the fall of 2019. As former development director for a local nonprofit serving individuals who are blind or visually impaired, Lily understands the importance of impact and focuses on the relationships behind the experiences throughout her campaigns and programs. Join us as she discusses We Love BuHi's work to preserve cultural identity!

There’s so much to love about Atlanta! One of the things that’s keeping us crushing is the city’s just-released guide for community-led tactical urbanism! Tactical urbanism is an approach to neighborhood building that empowers residents to implement short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions to catalyze long-term change. Think temporary bicycle lanes and public spaces, pedestrianizing the streets for a day or a month, colorful crosswalks, and turning parking lots into p...op-up parks. These kinds of interventions can be ways of prototyping long-term changes that might make a place more livable. And with Atlanta’s guide for tactical urbanism, the city is asking for your input and ideas! Commissioner Tim Keane from the Department of City Planning explains the importance of tactical urbanism for the ATL: From quick-build walkways and parklets to asphalt art, tactical urbanism is a key tool in our mission to design a vibrant public realm. We are thrilled to collaborate with ATLDOT on this initiative by providing design standards for communities to implement new projects in their neighborhoods. Let’s do this, Atlanta! Design = Change!

Today is the US Presidential Election. One barrier that prevents some people from voting is not knowing how the process works. So, today we're sharing some of the cool ways that gamers and designers are demystifying the voting process and giving young Americans a chance to practice even if they're not old enough to cast a ballot yet. Teja Foster of Rock the Vote says "there's no way for kids, before they get to the voting booth, to actually have a practice round and understan...d the process. It's just, like, you turn 18, and here's your ballot." So Rock the Vote teamed up with the creative team at Sid Lee to create a Minecraft server to teach young Americans how to vote. When a player joins the server, they can enter the large voting house and "register" to vote. Along the way, there are checkpoints explaining different aspects of the voting process. If Minecraft isn't your style, check out iCivics, the platform that created "Cast Your Vote." In this game, players discover what it takes to become an informed voter from knowing where you stand on important issues to uncovering what you need to know about your candidates. Now get out and vote! Want to explore these resources more? Check them out: https://buildthevote.com/ https://www.icivics.org/games/cast-your-vote

If you're anything like us, you've been wondering what you can do besides voting to help build a more just and equitable society. One small thing you can do today is stop by the Lost-n-Found Youth Thrift Store on Chantilly Drive to do a little shopping or to donate gently used or new items. Proceeds from their store aid help them meet their goal of ending LGBTQ+ youth homelessness in the Atlanta area. And, while you're there, you can also drop off some fresh produce and pantr...y staples at the Michael fridge, a part of Free99Fridge - Atlanta community fridges, feed the people! project to end food insecurity in Atlanta communities. Want to know more about Lost-n-Found youth? Join us on November 11th when Lost-n-Found Youth director Nasheedah Muhammad will be in conversation with artist-activist Jessica Sabogal about their efforts to design a better world. The virtual conversation is part of our I Dissent series which brings artists and activists together to share their work and wisdom with us. You can register for free here! https://www.museumofdesign.org//i-dissent-lost-n-found-you

Elections are an opportunity to use your voice to make a difference. Please vote! On the last weekend before the 2020 Presidential election, we’re reflecting on the many MODA exhibitions that have celebrated designers and creatives using their voice to make a difference in the world. One of our favorites, Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair, was on view in 2015. The exhibit celebrated the work and vision of Eunice Johnson, founder of Ebony Magazine.... From 1958 to 2009, Johnson attended the world’s most elite fashion shows, purchasing ensembles by the likes of Christian Dior, Givenchy, Yves St. Laurent, Vivienne Westwood, and Patrick Kelly. Then, each year, she designed and produced The Ebony Fashion Fair, a traveling fashion show in which Black models walked the runway in cutting-edge couture. As the Ebony Fashion Fair traveled the United States, making stops in city after city (including, of course, Atlanta), it redefined beauty, style, and empowerment, while also communicating that Black women are as stylish and successful as any others. Inspiring Beauty featured clothing from the fashion shows, along with behind-the-scenes photos and other archival material from Ebony. The exhibit was developed by the Chicago History Museum in cooperation with Johnson Publishing Company, LLC, presented by the Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum, and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C.

This Halloween season, we’ve perfected the skill of folding flying paper bats that fly. And we’re here to share our favorite bat-folding video with you! To celebrate, MODA Educator Thomas Hayes is showing us how we can all grab some sheets of black paper, scissors, and fold some bats that can fly! We hope everyone has a safe and scary Halloween!

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." RBG Like you, MODA is committed to making the world a better place. But, let’s admit it, there have been days in 2020 that have tested our resolve and shaken our strength! In order to center ourselves and gather our powers, we’re going to spend the afternoon of Saturday, November 7 reflecting on the extraordinary life of a Changemaker who left us this year, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ... We invite you to block out a couple of hours and join us for a free, virtual craftivism class honoring RBG and her commitment to advancing women’s rights and gender equality. If you’re a beginner, or if you’re already a stitching superhero, join us to engage with your hands and your heart as we honor the life and work of this feminist icon. We’d love to spend some time with you!

At MODA, we love to explore how things are designed and made! Turns out Spencer Tweedy, the son of Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, is compelled by the same particularly when it comes to recording music. Tweedy’s fascination with musicians who self-record led him to collaborate with designer Lawrence Azerrad and photographer Daniel Topete to publish Mirror Sound, a book that shows how private environments influence creative output through interviews with 27 musicians and more tha...n 150 photographs of the private spaces in which they record. Among the musicians profiled are Sharon Van Etten, Laetitia Tamko (Vagabon), Bradford Cox, Suzanne Ciani, Mac DeMarco, the late Emitt Rhodes, NNAMDÏ and Tune-Yards. Carrie Brownstein of Slater Kinney says in the forward to the book: "This book is...about a fundamental reimagining of ourselves and the spaces in which we create and invent. We can’t wait to learn more when we talk to Lawrence Azerrad about Mirror Sound and how our private environments influence our creative output on November 10 at Drink in Design. See more

We’re loving this piece of sneaker design history from British design studio Dorothy !