College for Creative Studies

Melanie McClintock is a multi-disciplinary designer, researcher, and lecturer who leads the Color and Materials Design graduate program at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Melanie recognizes, through her own practice and teaching, the importance of integrating science with design. Her recent study, The Ruderal Material Project, observes ruderal flora for signals of adaptation to initiate conversations on new color and material applications. Melanie’s research interests include Sense of Place, Materiality of Color, Bio-CMF, Creative Archiving, Making as Research, and Material Futures.

Leslie Ann Pilling was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. In 2015, she founded the Metropolitan Museum of Design Detroit (MM-O-DD), a non-profit organization created to provide experiential, educational, enrichment opportunities through collaborative programming and exhibitions. Her goal is to inspire creativity and innovative thinking that impacts people and the planet promoting the wellbeing of all. In 2016, that goal led to an exploration of biomimicry and its potential to create sustainable, regenerative design solutions. Biomimicry was the perfect platform from which to launch MM-O-DD’s annual design challenges geared toward young people and their families based upon animal and plant superpowers. Her enthusiasm for spreading the biomimicry message has grown to include collaborations with other individuals and organizations and greater local outreach.