After hosting numerous house guests over the years and finding themselves giving visitors custom tours around town, Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope of Design 99 were inspired to collaborate on book,
People's Guide to Detroit.
Reichert, Cope and friends are not attempting to be definitive with their publication -- they aim to present a version of the city they have come to know in various personal ways. The introduction describes it as:
"...a collection of personal narratives
and clipped entries based on individual experiences living here in the
city, bound together for ease of use and enjoyment. This is not a
comprehensive guide to the city. No, this guide offers a character
study of the city based on personal experience. What we offer are
impressions of places that hold our interest, places that we'd like to
share with you; perhaps where we would take you if you came to visit."
Reichert characterizes the current version of the book as "beta or test." Self-publishing the book at
Lulu.com will enable them to print the book in small batches; they hope to continually to update it and add collaborators as time passes.
Submissions to the guide will be welcomed on-line and in-person at the shop. "This thing will just get thicker and thicker," says Reichert.
Read more about Reichert, Cope and Design 99 in this
Model D profile. Credit for the book's design goes to
Nina Bianchi.
Source: Gina Reichert, Design 99
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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