Grain Summer Workshops at Open Satellite!

Do you know any Seattle-area teens curious about design?

Grain is leading two two-week design workshops for teens (12 - 15 years old) at Bellevue's Open Satellite residency space this summer and we are looking participants!

Teens will walk away with a design process tool kit that includes concept development, learning how to refine ideas, creating prototypes, and developing presentation skills. The hands-on workshop will culminate in a weekend public showcase of teen prototypes and products that will coincide with the Bellevue Arts Museum's Art Fair.

The workshops will run June 28th - July 10th and July 12th - July 23rd with the special weekend exhibition at Open Satellite July 24th - 25th.

For more info, please contact Open Satellite Public Programs Manager, Laura O'Quin at laura [at] opensatellite.org or at 425.454.7355.

Social Entrepreneurship Workshop at A Better World By Design

Over 60 participants showed up for the Social Entrepreneurship Workshop led by Grain at the A Better World by Design Conference in Providence last weekend. The workshop asked participants to think about the many un-met design opportunities that could service communities here in the US. Content for the workshop was based on Sami Nerenburg's current studio at RISD, Design for Social Entrepreneurship. It was great for us all to be back at RISD/Brown. 

Sami ended the workshop with an inspiring quote from President-Elect, Barack Obama, that I would like to share again here:

"I ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

Sami also participated in a panel discussion entitled Social Entrepreneurship with Alan Harlam, Director of Social Entrepreneuership at the Brown Swearer Center, Caitlin Cohen, Co-Founder of Mali Health Organizing Project, and Marina Kim from Ashoka's Global Academy University Program. To read more about that check out her guest blog on NextBillion.net here.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to A Better World By Design for inviting us!

Grain Workshop at A Better World By Design

Grain will be leading a workshop as part of the A Better World By Design Conference this weekend in Providence. The following is a description of our workshop. It is based on the curriculumn of Sami's current design studio, Design for Social Entreprenuership, at RISD: 

Design for Social Entrepreneurship 

Grain Design: Sami Nerenberg, Brittany Kleinman, James Minola, Chelsea Green

Grain Design will travel with you to introduce and explore the meaning of the UN Millennium Goals and how these as a framework can be used to uncover overlooked design opportunities. After jumping into the world of design you will walk out of this workshop filled with entrepreneurial ideas as well as a process to consider how the power of design and design thinking can be used to address some of the leading problems of our day – internationally and domestically.