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The seal featuring Chief Seattle looked official and, as a visual arts nerd, I wondered whether Seattle really had a citywide design department. (We do not.)
Officially launched in April, the Seattle Department of Design (SDOD) is a project founded by friends and collaborators Ryan Hunt and Nate Hoe that releases mostly wearable merchandise celebrating often-forgot-about graphic designs from Seattle s history. In short, they are trying to make civic pride cool.
The two met while working at a menswear store in Fremont several years ago, bonding over their shared love of art and design history of the city. Collaborating on numerous projects throughout their friendship, the idea for SDOD blossomed a couple of years ago when both Hoe and Hunt wanted to commemorate Seattle s cool-ass design history with something you could wear.