Design is traditionally driven by aesthetic, functional, production and market factors. What if suddenly these parameters were grossly distorted, or even removed entirely? Intrigued by the implications of this, I worked in a group of five designers to form Release1.  A forum for design exploration sheltered from traditional market forces. 

An open call for submissions in early 2001 sparked enthusiastic design proposals from across the continent, and the first exhibit opened in Boston on August 16, 2001. 

Entitled 'Disturb Delight Design', the exhibit invited consumers to consider design beyond its obvious functional and aesthetic roles, exposing issues of consumption, ritual, and interaction. The pieces run the gamut from horrifying to delightful and touch many areas of design: product, furniture, apparel, architecture, and graphics. 

The exhibit's first opening night drew approximately 600 gape-mouthed and giggling people from the local design and art communities as well as the general public. Release1's next show opened  at the Design Exchange in Toronto on June 6, 2001 and ran until July 12, 2001. 

Media coverage of Release1 was international and wide-ranging, including features in WIRED magazine, Japan's AXIS, Financial Times UK, and Adbusters, all of which helped further Release1's goal of mass-appeal and discussion via smart design and potent messages. Release1 also won the honor of ‘best of category’ in ID magazine’s 2002 international design review. 

Release1 beleives the success speaks to a growing introspection among professionals in the 'consumption trade', the art world's appreciation for the refreshing use of design as art statement, as well as, the general public's appreciation for clear, potent insights into the things that surround us.