Artist in Residence
Thing Thing
Thing Thing is a Detroit-based experimental design collective focused on color, play, and reimagining waste materials. Established in 2012, Thing Thing designs processes to work intuitively with industrial materials and methods. Through this authorship process, they are able to develop unique sensibilities as a practice based in making and materiality.
Thing Thing makes art and design for exhibitions, public spaces, and consumers. Their work has been exhibited internationally, from the Venice Biennale and Milan Design Week to Expo Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and the London Design Festival.
While in Residence
Breck Create has engaged Thing Thing to advance our successful Precious Plastic initiative in new and exciting directions. During their residency, they will conduct material exploration and research of our Precious Plastic studio. Utilizing their broad knowledge of plastic and arts fabrication, Thing Thing will spend time in the Precious Plastic studio assessing its capabilities, testing machines, and working on material experiments and samples. They will also host open studio hours to welcome members of the community to visit and learn more about their work and the use of more sustainable resources in art and object making. In addition, they will work with the Breck Create team, community stakeholders, as well as local creatives, college, and high school students, to identify new areas of focus, with the overarching goal of expanding the understanding of what is possible with this dynamic material.
Co-Founder Bio’s
Rachel Mulder is a licensed Architect, Artist and dog lover based in Detroit, MI. She holds a Master of Architecture from Yale, where she was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal and the Gertraud A. Wood Traveling Fellowship, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan. She has a love of glitter, squishiness, color, and the slightly grotesque. Outside of Thing Thing, Rachel’s practice spans architecture, interiors, and public art—with a deep commitment to experimentation and socially engaged design. She holds the role Senior Design Associate at Reddymade where she leads concept development and design execution for projects that prioritize sensory engagement, material exploration, and community impact—including projects for the National Building Museum in Washington DC, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Bukhara Biennial, and Michigan Central Station in Detroit.
Eiji Jimbo spent much of his childhood in Metro Detroit and Tokyo, concentrated on reading manga comics, skiing, and bickering with his older sisters. His innate technical abilities and deep curiosity led him to receive a Masters of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of California in Berkeley. During his time at Berkeley, he received the John K Branner fellowship, and taught a wide range of subjects including construction, mass timber, structures, California countercultures, and Geography. Jimbo loves a bustling Italian arcade, front porches, gradients, Memphis group, and Octavia Butler. He has shown collaborative work at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Shenzhen Biennial of Urbanism and Architecture, and Venice Architecture Biennale. Jimbo has an unshakable balanced demeanor, mad culinary skills, and is enthusiastic about billiards games. He has worked as a carpenter building fabulous homes in Seattle. His time is now spent fishing, judo-ing, woodworking and raising his ham sandwich daughters Zea and Makie.
Simon Anton is an artist and educator based in Detroit, Michigan. He has a bachelors from U of M’s Taubman College of Architecture Urban Planning and an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art where he received the President’s Award for Sustainability and the Redmond Prize. Anton has worked across the fields of architecture, interior design, furniture, art and jewelry. He was invited to present his work at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, Everlasting Plastics. After suffering a profound family loss he co-founded Got Grief House, a non-profit with the mission to support Detroit children and families experiencing grief. He is currently teaching a college course on Radical Materials and leading a Detroit youth Robotics Club.
Public Programs
Watch this space for more information on public programs, open studio times, and the full residency schedule.