Rhode Island may be a small state, but the size of the design community is great and palpable. In fact, Rhode Island has the 3rd largest percentage of creative sector jobs in the country, after New York and California.

The design industries in particular continue to grow: between 2007 and 2012, 500 new design businesses came online in the state, despite the recession. Further, Providence has the 3rd most industrial designers per capita, after Detroit and Cleveland. And a bevy of award-winning design schools and assets that continue to feed this concentration of creativity.

While design grows nationally in its recognition as an important driver for change, innovation and our economy – Rhode Island designers should be part of this conversation, and positioned in the national and global landscape. DESIGNxRI wants to help make this happen.

On these pages, connect with top notch Rhode Island designers across all disciplines. Search by industry, review case studies, and learn more about the impact and potential impact of innovative Rhode Island designers. And join us at any number of events throughout the year.

RI is a hot bed of design and creativity. We invite you to join us!

HISTORY

DESIGNxRI was founded in 2013 in recognition of the value and impact that creativity, design and innovation bring to our society and the world at large. As the only statewide organization for design in RI, we build value in the sector by creating events and programs that invest in design businesses, grow design talent, nurture the design community, and connect designers to professional opportunities.

OUR MISSION

DESIGNxRI is a nonprofit economic development organization that creates an opportunity-driven environment for RI designers, design businesses, and the design sector to thrive. We believe design is a critical economic sector that drives change globally, socially, and locally in the state of Rhode Island.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

We believe that increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion is non-negotiable to the growth and transformation of the design sector in Rhode Island. We commit to creating deeper and more diverse access to opportunities within our organization, through our programs, and throughout the design field. We are working to model diversity and inclusion for other organizations in the design sector, and we welcome the participation of our members, design businesses, and community partners to actively dismantle the systems of inequity in the design field.

Land acknowledgement

DESIGNxRI is located on Indigenous lands. We recognize and honor the Narragansett, Pokanoket, Niantic, Manissean, and Nipmuc Nations who are and have been the stewards of the lands known today as Rhode Island. These nations inhabited these lands prior to and since the arrival of the European colonizers and use these territories to fish, farm, hunt, create, design, heal and build communities. Indigenous expertise in stone masonry, construction techniques, basket weaving, leatherworking, beadwork, and other forms of making continue to contribute to design lineages today. We charge designers to build better worlds while acknowledging the foundational contributions of indigenous design.

As we continue to build a more expansive design community, we welcome others to join us in dialogue around evolving practices.

We honor the stewards of this land.