[Photo by Anna Wolf]
Design*Sponge is a daily website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge was declared a “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials” (NY Times, 2008) and features store and product reviews, city, product, and gift guides, diy projects, before & after furniture and home makeovers, home tours, recipes, videos and podcasts, and trend forecasting. In addition, Design*Sponge features a unique section dedicated to covering student design, national and international design shows. The site is updated constantly throughout the day (with an average of 6-10 posts a day), and attracts a core group of devoted readers. Design*Sponge currently has 40,000 daily readers. Click here for PRESS on design*sponge.
Design*Sponge editor Grace Bonney has a unique angle on the industry, working as a contributing editor at Domino Magazine and CRAFT magazine, and as a freelancer with top publications like House and Garden, New York Home, Food and Wine, In Style, Better Homes and Gardens, New York Magazine, CITY Magazine, Time Out New York Kids, Archinect, The New York Post, Everyday with Rachael Ray and others. In addition, she wrote a weekly design column for the Philadelphia Inquirer for two years and has worked as Style Editor of HGTV’s Ideas Magazine.
In addition, Grace has been a featured guest on Good Morning America and the Martha Stewart Radio Show and has been invited to speak with wide variety of organizations ranging from design schools to professional trade organizations. Recent engagements: “Design and the Media” (RISD, 2007), “Getting Your Work Online” (SCAD, 2007), “Design and the Internet” (AIGA, 2007), Design and Marketing Online (FIT, 2008), Design Panel Discussion (SURTEX, 2008), Design Panel Discussion (Interior Design Show (IDS), Canada, 2009)
Grace also runs a national series of meetups for women running design-based businesses called the D*S Biz Lady Series. Grace hosts and speaks at these events designed to connect local designers and provide free advice on the subjects of PR/marketing, legal concerns, business/financial decisions and wholesaling. Meetings have been held in Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles and Boston.
Design*Sponge also hosts an annual D*S Scholarship to support up-and-coming art and design students. So far over $16,000 in prize money has been awarded to students across the country.
Design*Sponge is proud to welcome five new contributors to the team:
Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom of The Curiosity Shoppe have joined D*S as weekly craft editors. Every Wednesday afternoon they will post a new project called “DIY Wednesdays” for those looking for DIY fun. You can view their column archives right here.
Writer and photographer Kristina of Three Layer Cake has joined D*S as a weekly food editor. Born in the South, Kristina now lives in Rome and works in the field of humanitarian assistance. She spends her free time learning photography, trying new recipes and playing with her border terrier, Crash!. Every Friday afternoon she will post a new recipe called “In the Kitchen With” from one of our favorite independent designers. You can view her column archives right here.
Graphic designer and travel maven, Anne Ditmeyer of Prêt à Voyager has joined D*S as a contributing editor. A background in art history, anthropology and photography combined with a love of travel has offered opportunities to find wonderful design in the most unlikely places. A native Virginian, but Francophile at heart, Anne currently absorbs the charm of Baltimore. You can view her column archives right here and here.
Sarah Ryhanen has joined Design*Sponge as a contributing editor. Sarah Ryhanen opened Saipua in 2006 with her partner Eric Famisan. They make olive oil soap and arrange flowers at their small shop in Red Hook. All the good things that happen there stem from Susan Ryhanen, the Saipua matriarch who one fortuitous day 11 years ago mixed lye with olive oil and some herbs. The rest is monkey business with a cattle dog named Nea and Scooter, a toothless cat. You can view Sarah’s column archives right here.
