Project brief: Commercial Article is a regional design-history project our studio has created for itself. Our goal is to document the life stories and work of little-known or under-documented designers from Indiana. Our third issue is a profile of Avriel Shull, a fiery, self-taught home designer-builder who worked in central Indiana from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Our goals are to explore our personal interests in the design history of our community and to let everyone else know about the talented individuals we uncover. We distribute the finished booklets to various media outlets and significant figures with interests in design history. We typically spend six to eight months researching and producing a single issue.

Approach: There was no specific brief for this project but simply a topic and an individual we felt warranted exploration and sharing. Our studio (two people) worked with an editor and a writer who had become an authority on Shull and could introduce us to others who knew her or resided in one of the many homes she designed. The writer also connected us with an historic preservation group that was presenting a seminar featuring Shull’s work. Our studio designed and financed the production and distribution of the final product.

Effectiveness: Commercial Article is an ongoing project and its total success will be measured over a long period of time. The project has already achieved some success in that it has helped generate other similar regional design-history investigations. An example is a book about Minneapolis designer Peter Seitz that was at least partially inspired by our efforts. In this regard, one of our primary goals is to be admired and imitated.

More recently, a story by Andrew Blauvelt about the nature of design history, and Commercial Article 03 specifically, appeared on Design Observer. This led directly to a new project called Unusual Suspects, whose sole purpose is to document the stories and work of designers all over the country who have impacted and influenced their communities but may not be widely known outside of their own geographic borders.

Good cultural story with engaging content.