Ten winning projects, selected among a pool of 18 finalists, and 37 total submissions, were announced at a special Award Ceremony on Thursday, October 25th at the Garden Theatre on Woodward in Midtown. The recognitions, accepted jointly by representatives of each project’s ownership and design teams, include physical awards for each contributor, a storefront window decal (pictured below) for the project, and a host of promotional support aimed at driving new business for both the owners and designers.  

A People’s Choice vote is now open to allow the public to select their favorite from among the 10 winning businesses, and all 10 will be featured in a very special Drinks x Design Crawl on December 1st in partnership with the Detroit Experience Factory. The Design Crawl will offer three different tours, each visiting four of the ten winning businesses, offering guests the chance to do some holiday shopping (or dining!), while also supporting outstanding local businesses! More details on the DxD Crawl will be available soon—stay tuned to Design Core, AIA Detroit, and Detroit Experience Factory social media channels for more info!

The ten winning projects selected for the 2018 Commerce Design Detroit Awards include:

  1. Advance Plumbing and Heating Supply Co. (Midtown) Submitted by owners Jeffrey, Joshua, and Justin Moss, and Design Team D-MET
  2. FOLK Detroit (Corktown) Submitted by owners Kiki Louya and Rohani Foulkes, and Designer CL Stefani Co., with Jessica Janda Design, CH Architects, and Donut Shop
  3. Kuzzo's (University District) Submitted by owner Ron Bartell, and Designers Joshua Smith and Jessica Janda, with Fonath Architects and Shari Gamlin
  4. New Order Coffee Roasters (Brush Park, Detroit) Submitted by owner Elizabeth Rose, and Design Team Et al Collaborative and Unsold Studio
  5. TAKOI (Corktown, Detroit)Submitted by owners Philip Kafka and Chef Brad Greenhill, and Designer Ishtiaq Rafiuddin of Undecorated
  6. Detroit Foundation Hotel (Downtown) Submitted by owners Aparium Hotel Group and 250 Larned LLC, and Design Team McIntosh Poris Architects
  7. House of Pure Vin (Merchant's Row) Submitted by owners Regina Gaines, Andrea Dunbar, and Terry Mullins, and Designer Christian Unverzagt of M1/DTW
  8. Lumen Detroit (Beacon Park) Submitted by owners DTE Energy, and Design Team Touloukian Touloukian Inc with Saroki Architecture, LivingLAB, Illuminart, and Republic
  9. Sfumato Fragrances (Midtown, Detroit) Submitted by owners Jane Larson and Kevin Peterson, and Designer Paul Karas of Ware MFG
  10. The Commons (Islandview, Detroit) Submitted by owners Ezekiel Harris of MACC Development, and Design Team Laavu Studio, with Ndubisi Okoye and BohoModern

The People’s Choice vote is open now through 11:59pm on Sunday, November 11th, and can be found at this link.

On behalf of AIA Detroit and Design Core Detroit, along with out Presenting Sponsor Bank of America and supporting sponsors Hudson Webber and NEI, congratulations again to all of our finalists and submitting businesses! Applications will open in March 2019 for the next round of the Commerce Design Detroit Awards.