interview Late last year, Erin Gainey (left), and Amber Murray (right), decided to raise money and mentors for the Pacific Northwestâs growing community of designers and started the Seattle Design Foundation, with a first fundraising auction in January.
Courtesy Seattle Design Foundation
Seattle Design Foundation Written by Lindsey M. Roberts : Portrait by kyle johnson
recent recession years The
seem to have lit a fire under the seats of design talents in the Northwestâfrom the JOIN Design Seattle collective that has shown at NYIGF to the growing number of independent studios and boutiques in the area. Now architect and product designer Amber Murray and event-planner Erin Gainey want to see this flame grow into a bonfire. Last December, the two started the Seattle Design Foundation to find money and mentors for emerging designers. We quenched our curiosity with all the red-hot details:
Why does Seattle need a foundation like this right now? AM: Itâs a really great time to be a designer in Seattle, but itâs at this transition. We asked ourselves if thereâs anything we can do to facilitate that. Maybe itâs a connection for a designer or just a couple thousand dollars. What is your long-term vision for grant giving? AM: We want to give grants every six months. Even though weâre not able to reach every emerging designer, weâre highlighting that thereâs a big design community here.
EG: For people who arenât able to give, weâll bring [them] in as mentors or board members. ⌠And weâre going to focus on holding two big fundraising events per year, right around the time we give the grants. Your first is the Ladies Design Grant. What others will you give? AM: Maybe itâs film, maybe itâs some sort of technology. We did the Ladies Grant because there are a lot of very talented women designers in Seattle that are working really hard. EG: And as the foundation grows, whomever we give a grant to, weâre hopefully going to be able to secure
them to be on our board after theyâve completed said grant work to provide guidance to future grantees. Why do you think weâre seeing the design scene thrive right now? AM: I donât know exactly what happened, but ⌠when I have a photo shoot, I know I can call Charlie Shuck and Kyle Johnson and theyâll be down for the cause. If Iâm interested in branding, I can call Strath Shepard at Pacific Standard. Jane Iacoli is one of the leaders of JOIN, and making that push to connect to New York has been really important. People have been fighting to think of Seattle in a different way. GRAY ISSUE No. three
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