Detroit might have felt the lower temperatures and gusty winds of an approaching Michigan winter during the evening of Dec. 7, but the Midtown neighborhood was nonetheless alive with the warmth and excitement of the 50th annual Noel Night celebration. Nearly 100 participating businesses and organizations provided the community with food, shopping, family crafts, live music, educational opportunities and more.  

The Winter Art and Retail Market (WARM), put on by the Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (DEED) in partnership with the Department of Art, Art History, and Design and TechTown Detroit, Wayne State’s entrepreneurship hub, featured 20 WSU art student vendors and 15 TechTown alumni business vendors across the Welcome Center and Old Main. More than 3,500 attendees visited the festive pop-up marketplace this year.  

Humble beginnings

What was once a small event held by a WSU art department professor has become a highly anticipated, integral part of Noel Night each year. Formerly known as the Winter Art Market, the event was created by Brian Kritzman, WSU associate professor of industrial design, around 2009. The event, which was at first separate from Noel Night, was originally made for students of Kritzman’s industrial design classes to display copies of their semester-long projects in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design’s gallery.

Over the next few years, Kritzman would open event participation to all of the department’s students as well as alumni. But he was still looking for ways to drive more traffic to the Winter Art Market. A chance meeting with Emily Thompson, now the senior director of regional competitiveness and impact, during a Noel Night planning event would make that dream a reality. Thompson, at that time, wanted to better activate Wayne State’s campus for Noel Night — and the Winter Art Market would help make that happen.

“Emily took over the organization [of the event], included TechTown, secured the lot on the corner of Warren and Woodward, planned for a heated tent, and WARM was born,” Kritzman said of the first iteration of the Winter Art and Retail Market, which was in 2016. “The coordination with Emily and DEED has completely transformed the event into a successful one for our students. Andrea Daldin has now taken over the organization of the event and we have now moved indoors within the Welcome Center! A massive improvement. I am super proud of the journey that this event has taken.” 

Career-engaged learning opportunities

For Kritzman’s industrial design students, WARM remains a rewarding end point for their hard work. Students are put into small groups to create a “simple domestic project” throughout the semester. They develop the item’s brand identity, design a logo, manufacture the object, create packaging for it and make eight final copies to sell at WARM.

This type of career-engaged learning is a prime example of the university’s College to Career initiative, encouraging students to participate in project-based work that sets them up for opportunities outside of the classroom.

“It’s definitely a cool community event,” said Elana Anderson, an industrial design student currently in Kritzman’s class, during WARM. She, along with fellow industrial design students Haley Cox and Ryan Fischer, created SHELTR, a 3D-printed, storage catch-all, designed for on-the-go people needing a convenient item to store their things, from wallets to keys to headphones. This was Anderson’s first year as a WARM student vendor. “I really like the vibes of all the vendors. I appreciate creative people, so this has been very cool.”

Returning WARM vendor and metalsmithing student V Wagner also had a great experience selling at this year’s market. Wagner handmakes copper earrings, pendants and other custom jewelry through their business, Weird Moon Creations.

“This year has been good. I’ve sold a couple pieces right off the bat, which was really encouraging,” Wagner said during the event. For their second year at WARM, Wagner felt they were better prepared with their product display and packaging as well as having business cards. “I’m glad I got to do it again. It seems like there were more people this year, too.”

A pipeline for Wayne State students and Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem

TechTown Detroit has been a valuable resource for WARM over the years, supporting the student vendors and bringing in a variety of established retail businesses, all of which are TechTown program alumni, into the fold.

Since 2019, TechTown’s Small Business Services (SBS) team has done pop-up shop coaching for the WSU students participating in WARM. Ahead of this year’s event, the SBS team provided a fact sheet on preparing for a pop-up event, including tips for displaying items and customer interaction, as well as resources to help students further their entrepreneurial journey with TechTown.

“I have often thought that the one thing missing from an art school was business and entrepreneurial training," says Holly Laginess, a small business services strategist at TechTown. Prior to joining the organization, Laginess owned a brick-and-mortar gift gallery that carried the work of more than 300 artisans and small businesses. She has also been a working artist for more than 25 years. Laginess, alongside TechTown Small Business Services Program Cordinator Latrice Bright, worked closely with the students and alumni businesses for this year's WARM.

"For the students that are interested, I believe TechTown could offer a fantastic partnership to their education at Wayne State. It is so important for artists to know they can make a really rewarding living creating and selling their work! I hope to work with many Wayne State art students in the future."

Gabrielle Reed, founder of Detroit Berry Company, has received that kind of entrepreneurial support from both sides, as a Wayne State alumni and a graduate of TechTown’s Retail Boot Camp: E-Commerce & Home-based Edition program.

As a first-time vendor at WARM, Reed said it was one of the easiest setups she’s had, and it was great to meet other small business owners while reconnecting with old ones.

“When I don’t have to worry about tables, chairs and where I’m going to set up, it takes a lot of the hard work and some of that anxiety away,” Reed said during the event. “I’ve had a lot of people stop by, and even if they didn’t buy something, they’re at least taking a card and I’m getting that notoriety out there. I have my first employee here with me, so that’s been super awesome. I couldn’t have asked for anything to go better.”