The ‘Fight Club of Design’ is coming for young Detroit artists

When Brook Banham was in graduate school at the College for Creative Studies, he had to write a plan for a fictional design business. But Banham already had an idea he wanted to develop.

He says art schools don’t have sports teams and mascots and ways to invite students and the community to root for them. But he imagined they could.

“So that’s what this Sketchbattle is about,” Banham said. “It showcases the competitive nature of design and we celebrate designers as athletes. And the sketching is a sport.”

Banham — now a professor of transportation, product and fashion design at CCS himself — was able to realize that dream when he founded Middlecot Design. He’s been running Sketchbattles since 2012.

The “Fight Club of Design” brings all of his favorite things together: automotive design, sketching, competition, dance music and Detroit. The events have been hosted during the North American International Auto Show. And, Banham says, they’re not like the corporate parties on the agenda.

“The auto show parties are so stiff… you got to have a business card… it’s not open to the public. The people who came to the auto show from Europe and Asia… they don’t necessarily want to go to the Marriott and hang out at the nice bars and clubs and stuff necessarily,” Banham said. “They want to see Detroit for what it’s known for — underground stuff. And just that gritty side and so our sketch battle was the gritty side open to the public.”

Middlecot now offers that kind of competition and fun to kid designers. Sketchbattle Junior invites the under 18 crowd to compete in a less formal, broader concept event with very different stakes. Winners can walk away with a scholarship to a College for Creative Studies summer camp or access to GM’s design program for kids. The goal is to let kids — and parents — know that design is a viable and often lucrative career path.

“Some people will have the attitude like, ‘Oh, I don’t want my kid to go to art school because it’s not profitable, and you won’t get a job.’ But that’s not true,” Banham said. “Art School is a way to make very good money and have a very good life.”

“Get the kids early and keep on sketching throughout high school and they will be legends. They will hit college running and those are the type of people who will be the heads of GM design, heads of BMW design, the heads of Google design, because they continued sketching, and sketching is the best way to express your ideas.”

The next Sketchbattle Junior is taking place on Saturday, April 13, at New Lab at Michigan Central.  The event starts at 9:30 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m. It is open to all kids interested in sketching and design in grades 7-12.

Those interested in competing can register in advance at sketchbattlejr.com.