From Our Founder

A look back at Design Museum Everywhere’s history and impact and path forward as CoDesign Collaborative

Photo: Sam and Derek at a Designing a Difference Workshop

What a fantastic time for Design Museum Everywhere — now: CoDesign Collaborative! When Derek Cascio and I started this organization 15 years ago with a dedicated team of volunteers and advisors, some key moments and decisions put the organization on a path towards something the current team can now make incredibly real — think, pivoting to be a museum without a building, intentionally collaborating closely with the design community, and constantly listening and adapting to the changing needs of our community overall. That culture of entrepreneurship and constant evolution continues today. It is evident as the CoDesign Collaborative team, led by the amazing Maria Villafranca, embarks on this next chapter of design impact.

As Maria shared the vision for this next chapter with me and how the organization can catalyze real, direct impact in the world through design, I couldn’t help but think of a program Derek and I launched back in 2011 called Designing a Difference. We partnered with a nonprofit called smallbean, whose mission involved teaching computer skills to children and adults in rural Tanzania. They prototyped a modular, solar-powered computer lab to set up in schools and community centers — the problem was it was a mess of wires and modules that required technical know-how to set up and maintain. Through our partnership, we recruited designers in the community who wanted to give back and support smallbean’s mission. Derek served as our design director, and together, the ad hoc, volunteer team designed, prototyped, tested, and delivered a human-centered solution for smallbean to amplify their impact in the world. 

When I think of what CoDesign Collaborative can do as a convener and focuser of design talent towards real-world needs and challenges, I think about this team taking something like Designing a Difference to a whole new level. And that is so exciting. 

Photo: One of the smallbean/Design Museum Boston designs

This team and this board have shown time and time again that what makes the Design Museum special is not our exhibitions, events, or publications — even though those are all top notch — it is our unique ability to connect, listen, collaborate, and share openly and generously. Now, as CoDesign Collaborative, with a focused mission and approach, they can take the impact of this organization and this community to that next level. 

This is the next chapter, and I’m so proud of the team, the board, and everyone involved in this evolution. This is how designers make an impact together.

— Sam Aquillano