A guide to Detroit’s living design culture—where industrial legacy, creative community, and everyday innovation collide block by block.

An exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum reframes midcentury modernism through Detroit’s lens, spotlighting overlooked designers and showing how the movement’s ideas continue to shape modern living.

This year’s Eastern Market After Dark drew record-breaking crowds as tens of thousands filled the streets and warehouses of Detroit’s historic market district to celebrate design, creativity, and community. The night came alive with immersive art installations, open studios, and pop-up exhibitions—turning Eastern Market into a massive, walkable gallery that showcased Detroit’s creative energy at its peak.

A first-of-its-kind Detroit Warehouse design fair gathers local makers, experimental materials, and site-specific installations into one post-industrial space during Detroit Month of Design.

Detroit celebrates a decade as the U.S.’s only UNESCO City of Design, revealing how the city’s design-forward thinking extends far beyond the festival calendar.

Exhibition detail from “Eventually Everything Connects: Mid-Century Modern Design in the U.S.” at Cranbrook Art Museum. Photo by PD Rearick.