Some places shape the people who pass through them. Cranbrook Academy of Art is one of them.
We travelled to Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to film Gesture, Colour, Quilt with Julian Jamaal Jones. Julian is a Cranbrook graduate, and the campus holds a special place in his heart. It didn't take long to see why.
Cranbrook is indeed a beautiful place. Paths and fountains and buildings of epic proportions, but also the small details: the proportions of an archway. The care in a brick wall, window fixture, tile pattern.
But there's a deeper beauty that relates to the people who have passed through.
If you've ever sat in a Tulip Chair, you've met Eero Saarinen. Its curves, its structure, the way it seems to grow up out of the floor rather than sit on it. A chair designed to eliminate the clutter of four legs! You might remember it was very 'on trend' in the early 2000s.
Walk around Cranbrook and the name 'Saarinen' pops up here and there. That's because Eero's father, the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, designed much of the Cranbrook campus, later becoming president of the Academy of Art.
Eero grew up on the campus. He learnt beside his father, surrounded by architects, sculptors, weavers, and metalsmiths, all working in the same place.
Cranbrook's story isn't only the Saarinens'. Many of us know the Eameses' chairs long before we know where their story started.
Charles Eames arrived in 1938 to study architecture and stayed on to teach. Ray Kaiser came in 1940. They met there, and it was at Cranbrook that they began experimenting with moulded plywood - the beginnings of a partnership that would shape how much of the world sits, works, and lives. Charles and Eero worked on early furniture designs together too.
Creative people, a space to work - and some of the most recognisable design of the twentieth century. Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia and many others share that Cranbrook legacy. Walking those paths, it’s easy to imagine them at work.
It's as true today as it was then: put curious people together, let craft and fine art share the same room, and things grow. Julian is part of that story too. His quilts sit right at the meeting point of craft and fine art.
Then there's the campus itself.
Bronze figures by the sculptor Carl Milles rise out of fountains and pools. Old buildings sit in deep green lawns, their brickwork, ironwork, and carved details rewarding anyone who slows down to look. Paths wind between courtyards and gardens, so every turn gives you a new view.
It's a campus made with attention. Even the gates and lamp posts seem to have been thought about by someone who cared.
At its heart is the Cranbrook Art Museum - a huge, impressive space for art and design, and home to a remarkable collection. We spent time there with curator Kat Goffnett, and there's a lot more to share about that visit.
One afternoon we took a drive out to see a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright houses - thanks to Anna on our team, who discovered they were nearby!
Wright was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century, and seeing his houses in person was something else. Low roofs stretching out over the landscape. Rooms that open into one another. Timber, brick, and glass, each material left to be itself. Inside and outside in quiet conversation. These weren't necessarily his most famous works, but they were surprising, and beautiful.
Modernism isn't just a style. It's a way of thinking: honesty to materials, form that grows out of function, and the belief that a well-made thing can be both useful and beautiful. It runs right through Cranbrook, and it still guides so many makers today, myself included.
Few of us get to live and make on a campus like Cranbrook. Days in the studio, evenings walking past fountains, a community of makers on every side. It's all so romantic!
But you don't need to board a plane to Michigan to step inside. Through Julian's eyes and our cameras, Gesture, Colour, Quilt takes you into Cranbrook's studios and museum, and into the company of a place that has believed in makers for nearly a century.
You can still experience - albeit virtually - the joy and inspiration of making alongside other like-minded creatives. There's a community waiting for you!
Some places reach you wherever you are.
The Take Two team is so grateful to Cranbrook Academy of Art, and Cranbrook Art Museum for allowing us the time, space and freedom to film Julian’s course. Thank you!