By Michelle Garrett — August 19, 2015
For some time, Pasadena as a tech and design hub has been a well-kept secret. Over the last two years, Innovate Pasadena has changed that. We are thrilled to spotlight Pasadena’s newest innovation asset coming online this fall, the Supplyframe Design Lab located at 30 East Del Mar Boulevard.
Steve Flagg, founder and CEO of
Supplyframe, along with
Cory Grosser, Creative Director and owner of
Cory Grosser Design & Strategy, recently chatted about the process and vision behind opening the Design Lab.
As a founding board member of Innovate Pasadena, Steve Flagg began thinking about the potential for cross-pollination between academic institutions, entrepreneurs, designers and scientists several years ago. Pasadena, with best-in-class institutions like Caltech, JPL and Art Center, is where the intersection of art, technology and design meet. For Flagg, he wanted to create a space to bring those disciplines together.
Steve Flagg and Cory Grosser knew each other for many years prior to collaborating on the Supplyframe Design Lab. Grosser, an instructor at Art Center and owner of a boutique interior architecture studio in Pasadena, was excited to partner with Flagg on a project that he knew would be singularly unique. With few labs like it across the world, Grosser set out on envisioning how to make the Supplyframe Design Lab far more intentional than other similar spaces.
“The creation of things is like a show. The design lab will be set-up with vignettes where you can watch creation happen,” explained Grosser. A gallery will be set-up on the street-facing façade to attract people in. Once inside, the public will get to view tinkerers and makers in their native habitat. Think dark and moody harkening back to those school days when you could get heavy into coding, dive deep into projects and work straight through the night.
The
Supplyframe Design Lab will open later this fall after a few designers and entrepreneurs in residence can put the lab through its paces to make sure it’s functioning as intended. Open to the entire community, it will feature state-of-the-art equipment, amazing design, educational programming for kids, micro-events and function as a beacon to the innovation community.
“My goal and hope with this space is to have the innovators and engineers that are working on the next great idea stay in Pasadena,” says Flagg. “Oftentimes, even when someone has a fantastic idea and kicks off a project, they might stumble. It might be an excuse (not the right equipment, space, mentors) and the Design Lab will help remove those stumbling blocks.” With a nod to Field of Dreams, Grosser adds, “It’s kind of like if you build it, they will come. And, if it’s cool enough, they will come back.”
But, don’t take just his word for it. Check out the Hackaday community response to the project here: https://hackaday.io/project/80-supplyframe-design-lab/discussion-8844. Like user Commotion Theory said, “This makes me so damn happy.” Well put. It makes Pasadena happy, too.
For more information about Supplyframe and the community of hackers that they’ve spawned at Hackaday, visit http://www.supplyframe.com.