Does that sound scary?! Heck, no! The Michigan Design Militia is a group of creative-minded folks in the greater Ann Arbor area that is the driving force behind the annual Shadow Art Fairs. We asked Melissa Dettloff a few quick questions to introduce the group and share some insight as to what brought the Shadow Art Fair to life.
How many members are in the Militia?
There are five of us:
- Me (Melissa Dettloff)
What kind of events have you guys put together
We put together the Shadow Art Fair in Ypsilanti, which is a twice-a-year event (July and December) that brings together
mostly local makers of things, along with bands, food, beer and other good times. Our first SAF was in July 2006. We are currently planning our fourth SAF for Dec 1, 2007.
Why were you interested in finding like-minded makers and putting on events?
Jennifer got us together in the beginning. As the owner of HF, she was fielding a lot of the same questions from designers, and invited all of us to start meeting to talk about business and brainstorm. We started organizing topic-meetings with guest speakers (one was about taxes, another about site engine optimization). The group was larger initially and slowly dwindled to the five of us, and at some point we decided it’d be fun to organize an event, and that has been our focus ever since.
What does the group hope to accomplish in the future?
We’d like to keep running the SAF and seeing where we can go with that.
And we hope they keep it running, too! If you guys haven’t had a chance to check out SAF before, make sure to add it to your calendar for this December at the Corner Brewery.