Seattle and Raleigh-Durham marketing, graphic and brand design studio Design Kompany

Durham is what’s happening.

Not that this doesn’t go without saying. After all, Durham and the Research Triangle Metropolitan (okay, that’s a stretch of a term) Area cities are regular on those “top cities to live/work/move to” lists that magazines put together every once in a while. But having said what I said in the last post, I felt I should clarify my position on our move here.

I love being in Durham.

Here are my reasons. Feel free to add yours.

Downtown core is finally getting revitalized.
From the house we live in now (one of those newly-remodeled-by-hipster craftsman, popping up in the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood. Btw, our neighbors rock. We must talk about them soon), I can get to five (not counting the several that I haven’t confirmed) coffee shops serving locally roasted brews, within the walking distance. Not a Starbucks in sight, either. Sure, there are other ways to measure vitality, but that’s a good enough way for me.

Co-working.
Dipika attended a launch party for Bull City Forward, downtown-based, social entrepreneurship-focused co-working space. There are two other spaces being launched in the coming months (that I am aware of), all within walking distance to each other. Can you say Dream Kitchen? I am loving the idea of being close enough to all these creative, entrepreneurial minds to stumble on while taking Kush out for a stroll, or of having a desk a stone’s throw away where I can just get away and get work done.

Baseball.
Sure it’s minor league, but as far as minor league baseball goes, it doesn’t get much better than a Durham Bulls game at their still shiny stadium. Beats seeing a major team that I’d never heard of playing another in an overpriced “sports-complex,” for sure (oh, and by the way, Bulls were the AAA National Champion in 2009). Okay, the last game I attended there was ten years ago, so I need to go back to confirm this soon (and the season started last weekend!).

The Rust.
It’s beautiful.

Diversity.
People from all kinds of backgrounds mix in Durham. Well, they say hi, at least. I like seeing the mommy-approved, state-of-the-art (seems to me!) skate park next to a police station, next to an abandoned auto-garage and an old metal fabrication shop and formerly (still?) -depressed residential block. It’s not all Prius/vintage thrift/bugaboo/iPhone/farmers-market here, you know?

Art Walk(s).
Downtown Durham boasts not one, but two, art walks, and they are coinciding this weekend. Monthly-held Third Friday Durham is, well, on third Friday of every month, and Durham Arts Council’s Durham Art Walk is bi-annual. They are both happening this weekend! Of course I am excited.

Ideas.
Last Thursday, I met Dave Alsobrooks at Paragraph Group, who helped Bull City Forward with its branding. He suggested I check out Nathan Wieler’s Original Projects, and so I did, over the weekend. I met a lot of great, personally-driven ideas (best kind in my opinion, which I plan to talk about more. And btw, they are re-opening the space again this weekend.). Ideas jazz us up at DK. Which brings us to…

Designer’s Korner.
This month’s korner, the second installment in Durham, will be at The Pinhook, a local bar/music venue. That’s where Beck Tench, the Director for Innovation and Digital Engagement at Durham’s Museum of Life and Science, holds her Office Hour every Friday from 5-7pm. I thought it would be fun to see what happens when we brought a bunch of designers and film makers into the mix. So it will be a larger group than normally, drawing and chatting together in the back deck, from which we can look over the sun setting beyond Durham Performing Arts Center and the American Tobacco Campus. It will be fun. I will be glad that we moved.