February Recap

Sew Social

Kicking off the Month, Sew Social, organized by Sophia Ege, held their first monthly workshop here in Derita. This workshop brought together 8 avid sewers with all varying skills to the neighborhood. They chatted about techniques and worked on their own projects in a lively environment.

From Sew Social:

It's like book club but with sewing machines. Designed for all of us who sew or are learning to sew. We get together to share tips, tricks, fabrics, patterns, sewing wins -- and fails. Some events will be BYOSM and others will be social outings.

Love to CNC

Derita Design held our 2nd Workshop of the year teaching folks about using a CNC machine to make a small box. Each person came in and sketched their design. I then helped them translate the design into carving paths using Illustrator and Easel. Then they were able to decide the color of plastic and wood they wanted. The plastic came from the plastic collection drive we held for the Derita Bench. And the wood came from Carolina Urban Lumber.

All in all it was a solid workshop and was well received. Thanks all for coming!

Open Studio

Despite the rain, we opened up the Studio for our monthly event where neighbors from Derita and all around Charlotte can come and explore the space. Shout out to D’Van for bringing his VR headset. It was mind-blowing to explore making furniture in real time in Augmented Reality. This is definitely a tool we are hoping to bring to Derita Design.

We had a pretty lively discussion on the implications of using VR to design. There was a furniture maker, an industrial designer, an architect and surveyor all able to discuss unique ways in which this technology can be used in workflows. This is what these Open Studios are all about!

Scrapin’ for Leather

Upcycle Arts held a drive last month where they were giving away as many as you could carry 50lb bags of leather scraps for a donation of $25. Or course, being an avid upcycling proponent here in Derita, had to grab some bags! I hope to do some laser-cutting and shoe making workshops with this leather in the future.

Thank You Upcycle Arts!

Books a Million!

Thank you to architects Jes and Zack for providing the Derita Design Library with these gorgeous titles! Always accepting of more books as the shelving for the Library is being expanded!