If you’re in an office of 1 or 2, or if you have no formal office at all, come to this lunch-time gathering to celebrate the end of the year with other area small business owners. This event is open to tiny office and office- less workers from all neighborhoods. Pass the word!

Event is Friday, December 16, 2011 starting at 1 pm in Union Square, Somerville.

Complete cost for lunch is $15.  Register before 12/15 to attend.

Bring along a Secret Santa gift to exchange (valued at $5 or less) that represents your business to network and spread holiday cheer at the same time. Could be a mug or a keychain with your logo. Or if you’re a graphic designer, maybe bring greeting cards with an image you created. If you’re a carpenter, maybe bring a hammer. Be creative!

The event location is in Union Square, Somerville. Restaurant details will be sent to all those registered before the event.

Design Annex’s goal is connecting this community of people working at the intersection of commercial and creative and through the shared connections to thrive together. Somerville has been a quiet hub design and creative businesses and it’s time we made some noise, locally and nationally.

Wednesday, October 12, 6-8 pm at Precinct. Free. RSVP and don’t forget to bring your business cards!

For the November biz.buzz, Design Annex joins with Mass Challenge to bring together the community of tech start-ups with this area’s talented designers.

Mass Challenge is the world’s largest business start-up competition, with $1M at stake to catalyze the launch of high-growth, high impact new businesses. Frequently these tech start-ups have incredible technical products but lack the quality design that would allow them to stand out in the marketplace. At this biz.buzz we seek to introduce the design community of Somerville and the greater Boston area and high-tech enterpreneurs.

Wednesday, November 9, 6:30 to 8:30 at Joshua Tree in Davis Square. Free. Co-sponsored with MassChallenge. RSVP.

These events support Union Square Main Streets’ efforts, through the Design Annex, to grow the creative economy in Somerville. The Design Annex provides the resources to grow creative businesses including shared office space and equipment, networking, and advocacy for industry needs. Since its founding just 18 months ago, 25 small creative businesses have used the Annex’s resources and community to help grow their enterprises.

Finally, on Tuesday November 15 we will be bringing back our successful Design Annex lunchtime crits. Got a project you’re working on and want to get feedback from other disciplines? Need a chance to bounce ideas off people? This is your chance. Spots will open up in October, so start thinking about what projects you might want to share with a small group of folks at the Annex. We hope to see you there.

The next biz.buzz will be held October 13.  Stay tuned for details.

Alongside networking and community building of events like biz.buzz, Design Annex is also launching a series of profiles of these professionals so that even more people can get to know the incredible wealth of talent in Somerville. If you or someone you know is interested in being profiled, please let us know! You can get in touch with us at info@dannex.org, or send us a tweet to @designannex.

• Join us for biz.buzz: Thursday, July 28, 6-9 pm at Precinct. Free.
• RSVP to info@dannex.org, and don’t forget to bring your business cards!

While you likely know the big design players in Somerville such as Arrowstreet, Moshe Safdie and Altitude, you may not know the literally hundreds of smaller scale creative businesses bustling here in Somerville and making their own bold mark. The Design Annex’s goal is to interconnect this community of people working at the intersection of commercial and creative and through the shared connections to thrive together. Somerville has been a quiet hub design and creative businesses and it’s time we made some noise, locally and nationally.

This event supports Union Square Main Streets’ efforts, through the Design Annex, to grow the creative economy in Somerville. The Design Annex provides the resources to grow creative businesses including shared office space and equipment, industry networking, and advocacy for industry needs. Since its founding just 18 months ago, 25 small creative businesses have used the Annex’s resources and community to help grow their enterprises.

The networking series biz.buzz is our first big step towards accomplishing our goal of a tightly networked, strong design community in Somerville. Please join us and other creative business professionals to relax, share ideas, and share some drinks on Thursday, July 28, 6-9 pm at Precinct. RSVP to info@dannex.org, and don’t forget to bring your business cards!

Join us for reception to tour the space, meet current members and thank the many people who made the facility possible.

Anticipated guests include:
Mayor Joseph Curtatone, City of Somerville
Jason Shupach, Creative Industry Director, MA Office of Economic Development
Beate Becker, DIGMA (Design Industry Group of Massachusetts)
Kathy McCabe, President, Mass Economic Development Council
Meri Jenkins, Adams Arts Program, Mass Cultural Council

Somerville is increasingly the center of design in Massachusetts with 124 design related businesses, making the city
second in density of both architectural & engineering service firms and of design service firms in Massachusetts. More than twenty creative industry businesses are active in the central business district of Union Square alone. Design Annex seeks to further advance Union Square as a center for design-related activity.

An initiative of Union Square Main Streets, Design Annex provides the resources for small firms and solo practitioners in design fields in Somerville and surrounding communities to grow their businesses. Now open, the facility includes a co-working space with conference room, lounge with a resource library, shared equipment and ventilated model building studio. With a tiered membership structure that offers access to networking and educational programming as well as office and equipment resources, the Design Annex seeks to build a robust network of collaborative, thriving, design-related businesses centered in Union Square, Somerville.