DETROIT MONTH OF DESIGN

Dubbed the “King of multi-tasking” by Anthony Haden-Guest in The Art Newspaper, Amani Olu is a serial entrepreneur, with a strong background in exhibition making and art writing. He is also the co-founder of Humble Arts Foundation, a 501c3 that began in 2005 to support and promote new art photography. From 2008 to 2012, he curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary photography, and spearheaded the four-part series Young Curators, New Ideas. In 2011 he joined Nadine Johnson & Associates as an art publicist for clients such as the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Marlborough Chelsea, and the Dallas Art Fair. Eighteen months later, he was named managing editor of Whitewall, having previously contributed to the magazine articles on artists William Eggleston, Zoe Crosher, Elad Lassry, and Rashaad Newsome. He left to establish Olu & Company, a marketing and business consultancy for individuals, businesses and organizations in the arts. In 2016 he ended his curatorial hiatus with an exhibition at Storefront Ten Eyck. Olu makes art under the name “Scott Avery,” and is currently developing IMG SRVR, a visual cloud storage service for creative industries.

Alice Stori Liechtenstein is a curator specialised in contemporary design. She is the founder and director of Schloss Hollenegg for Design, an international program based in Austria, to support design culture. She is a public speaker and teaches Exhibition Design at the FH Joanneum in Graz.

Bilge Nur Saltik is a designer, curator, and educator based in Detroit. She received her MFA in the Design Products Department from Royal College of Art, London and her BA in Industrial Design and Graphic Design from Yeditepe University, Istanbul.

She is the founder and creative director of Form&Seek, a design studio that creates and curates uniquely crafted products and experiences. At Form&Seek, each product emerges from a powerful narrative and is fueled by an interest in human behavior and human interaction with objects. Emphasizing craftsmanship, materials, and process; Form&Seek designs unique, functional and playful objects. Notable clients include Le Bon Marche, Cariuma, Paşabahçe, Kwambio and Shanghai Glass Museum.

Nur won the New Design Britain Award (2014) and selected `Top 20 designers under 35  by New York Magazine (2013). Her work exhibited in national and international prestigious platforms such as Victoria&Albert Museum (London), Cooper Hewitt Museum (NYC) and Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam). Her work was published on well-known media channels and magazines such as the Wired, Evening Standard, ICON Magazine and Frame Magazine. Nur is an active member of the Detroit design community. She serves as a Design Network board member of Design Core Detroit.

Roslyn Karamoko is originally from Seattle, WA, and moved to Detroit in 2013 after stints in Washington D.C., New York and Singapore. She spent the early part of her career as a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue and was recruited by EU e-commerce giant Rocket Internet GMBH to head up the buying operations at their Southeast Asia based fashion e-commerce start-up.

Called “The Motor City’s Hottest Designer” by TIME Magazine, Roslyn is the brainchild behind Detroit’s premier label and concept shop Détroit is the New Black. “Detroit is where you see creativity and opportunity intersect. I wanted the brand to reflect that intersection with diversity and inclusion”, says Karamoko.

Roslyn holds a B.A. in Fashion Merchandising from Howard University and is a current lecturer at WayneState University.  She is also a guest lecturer and workshop instructor at Central Saint Martins, London.

Noah Resnick teaches and practices architecture and urban design in the city of Detroit, Michigan, and currently serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. Noah is also a partner at the design studio Laavu, where he operates under the interrelated concepts of the architectonics of multiple scales; the architect as urban collaborator; and the architect as community builder. 

Noah grew up in Miami, Florida, where he attended the Design and Architecture Senior High magnet school (D.A.S.H.). He earned his BArch from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, graduating at the top of his class, for which he was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal of Excellence. Noah completed his Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMarchS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Architecture + Urbanism stream. This degree culminated in an urban design thesis that focused on the potential of transit-oriented development nodes in the city of Detroit. In addition to Detroit, Noah has lived and practiced in Chicago, Boston, and New York, as well as Berlin, Germany where he worked in the studio of Daniel Libeskind.

Meet Tiffany…Inspired world traveler.  Fancy hat lover. Spelling Bee Champion and Principal Designer at Tiffany René Interior Design.  With an innate sense of personal style, Tiffany is known for infusing her travel experiences and love for fashion to create thoughtful interiors with an edgy flair.  Through humble beginnings growing up in Detroit’s Historic New Center Area, Tiffany attributes her passion for design to her early admiration of the architectural details of the 1920’s homes throughout her childhood neighborhood.  Twenty years later, her discerning eye is still exceedingly present as she creates dwellings that are not only detail-oriented but functional and well suited to the client’s vision.  

Tiffany received a BA in Human Communication with minor studies in Architecture from Morris Brown College and later continued her education in Interior Design at the Art Institute of Atlanta.  While a self-proclaimed “Motor City Peach,” Tiffany remains devoted to impacting the evolving landscape of design in her hometown, and serves as a Co-Founder of Rivet Design Collective, a multicultural membership comprised of design professionals, artists, disruptors and creative influencers who are who are committed to advancing Detroit’s creative community.