Maybe Minneapolis?

I'm not in the design scene and could only dream of trying to do this in addition to my other responsibilities, but I whole-heartedly vote for Twin Cities, MN (St Paul and Minneapolis)! I know there are some great design firms and schools here and it would be nice, at least to me, to hear from someone who doesn't seem to experience summer 9 months a year (we can't plant outdoors until after Mother's Day, unlike many of the authors here on AT who've been talking about all things green since March). Just my 2-cents!

Are you serious!?!?! You actually divided Canada into "British Columbia" and "Eastern Canada"??

How insulting and unprofessional.
Get a f-'n map, people. It's not like they're hard to come by.

I agree with kls987 and art. I live in Minneapolis and would love to see more advice, design ideas and resources for our lovely Twin Cities.

I just started my own Interior Design business and am in the process of finding my way, which isn't easy given the fact that I've been in Minneapolis less than two years now and my business utilizes (as much as possible) sustainable design.

Not sure if I would qualify for this position, but perhaps since my home-based business keeps me within steps of my computer and I am right smack dab in Minneapolis...

Hmm...

That summary of Canada is a little bunk. How about getting a boy to represent the midwest? There must be at least one that breaks the cliche.

I am going to vote for Ohio either Columbus or Cincinnati but that is for selfish reasons. It would be nice to have some one which is more Midwest based without access to all of the top stores in Chicago. This would be extremely helpful for those of us in smaller cities like Dayton, Ohio.

Toronto - great city for design, arts, and DIY communities.

my heart just skipped a beat.......

Memphis!!!! It's Mid-West and Southern!!!! I'm so excited, I might just have to go for it!

Apologies for the labels on the map - no disrespect intended toward the Provinces! It is graphic from the Small Cool Contest that we recycled here to help generally define the areas included under the AT:Chicago umbrella.

Toronto.

detroit!

Minneapolis definately needs some love! Chicago and Atlanta get all the attention, but the Twin Cities area is a fantastic place for design.

Tulsa. Or Kansas City. You have no coverage in the South at all. Chicago is great, but people in this area can't possibly identify with Chicago (which I see as being more similar to New York City, San Francisco etc. in terms of what's available than to most of the "Midwest") Get a blogger who has to deal with having no IKEA, no DWR, no Urban Outfitters, no CB2 (the list goes on) and see what sorts of innovative things they come up with.

People around here can't buy a roomful of Crate and Barrel and call it done, unless they drive a truck for a living or have thousands of dollars to waste on shipping. We have to work a lot harder and drive a lot further. Or we have to make/do it ourselves. I mean, look at our Craigslist. This area needs all the help it can get.

NOTE: This isn't shameless self-promotion. I'd make a crappy blogger. But I'd like to see someone do this city, or at least this area, proud.

More realistically, if you want to stick with a city that has easy access to those sorts of resources, Austin or Dallas would both be good. They're each large enough to support the kind of audiences you probably need to have to make it worth hiring a blogger, and each has a style completely distinct from what you'll find in any of the cities already represented.

South. From Atlanta to Miami.

Pick me!!!

re: "no IKEA, no DWR, no Urban Outfitters, no CB2"

Um, with internet, ain't no such thing.

First vote for a joint blog. Kansas City/St. Louis.

I'm in St. Louis and I wish I had time to blog for you. There is more going on in Kansas City as far as cutting edge design goes. St. Louis is very safe and traditional.

Second vote..... New Orleans

i selfishly vote for toronto... but agree that someone in the southern area of the "chicago" section should probably take the place.

but back to the tdot. we just recently got a dwr with little if no fanfare and there are a few exciting things here but we still lack the amazing history that pulls out some of the wonderful antique/vintage finds other cities have.

Atlanta! I am beyond obsessed with this website (newly registered though), and would love to have some coverage in the south. I would volunteer myself, but I live in a small college town :)

Toronto. Please, please, please.

Atlanta...pretty please? With sugar (or splenda, if you prefer) on top???

AUSTIN

the South please, Austin specifically :)

this is a pretty good map of what the southern folks are talking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Census_Regions_and_Divisions.PNG

Minneapolis! The heavy Scandinavian influences there would make juicy material for those with modern and eco-friendly sensibilities.

Are all the AT bloggers in Chicago women? Don't you have any fancy gays there?

PLEASE someone do Texas! I'm not really sure if there is a lot of innovative new design here, but I'm getting tired of seeing so many cool places that are so far away!

MINNEAPOLIS. The Twin Cities for sure. This is a great choice for modern design, as well as sustainability. There are also lots of great art/design schools for new work as well as it being midwestern all the way!

(didnt the post ask for what "midwestern" city we would like to hear from, as in NOT Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis? Im not saying that these cities shouldnt be covered in the future, but c'mon listen up people!)

5th line down

...possibly Atlanta...

Minneapolis/St Paul... We've got a whole design district popping up With Abitare expanding, Ligne Roset, Roam and IMS in Minneapolis. Plus we've got a lot of great design coming out of Minneapolis: Bluedot, Room and Board, lots of Scandinavian influence, etc. Plus we've got some great prefab companies out of the cities with flatpak and weehouse. I'm sure there is more that I'm not thinking of right now. Definitely Minneapolis/St. Paul!

I vote Minneapolis/St Paul and I nominate my very favorite local design writer: http://aleciastevens.com/

St. Louis would be a great place for AT to head next : lots of neighborhood revitalizations in the works, house rehabbing, and mid-century design.

Not to mention, St. Louis is the home of Eero Saarinen's greatest work - the Gateway Arch.

I am tempted to move back to Minneapolis to do this! Too bad I can't just up and do that. Please someone in Minneapolis - answer the call!!

minneapolis/st. paul!

Columbus!!!

I vote for Toronto or Montreal. Great design resources in both cities.

Houston, Texas

or at least somewhere in Texas

Slightly off topic... Until now I never zeroed in on how capricious these subdivisions are. Just two among many examples, I think it's pretty counterintuitive to think that Florida belongs in the NY zone, or Wyoming in Chicago's. I live in Chicago now, and I used to live in Georgia, and the two could scarcely be more dissimilar. I assume that Chicago has this hodgepodge because it took over the "residual" parts of the country after the east and west coast Apartment Therapy regions were already established?

Maybe what you really need to do - more than adding another center of gravity in the Chicago region - is to add a fifth region - the southeast - centered on Atlanta and absorbing the states around it that might share greater similarity in climate, architecture, retail presence, gardening, etc. than with Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit, for instance.

Votes for Toronto!
AT has a lot of Canadian readers...

"...but back to the tdot. we just recently got a dwr with little if no fanfare and there are a few exciting things here but we still lack the amazing history that pulls out some of the wonderful antique/vintage finds other cities have."

Um, no. The DesignExchange, OCAD, Made, the Gladstone, the Knit Cafe, west Queen west's continual evolution, the Distillery, Quasi Modo, the One Of A Kind shows down at Exhibition, all the great vintage find on Queen East, for architecture there are all the all the big cultural institutions being redesigned but also interesting stuff happening on a more local, individual level like greening homes and/or getting rid of the lawn in favour of xeriscaping or supporting natural habitats (see Bullfrog Power and the great yougrowgirl.com)... Obviously, I could go on.

DesignSponge did a Toronto design guide some time ago that's worth a look.

Atlanta !

Columbus?? i Just laughed out loud at that, and I'm even from Ohio.

Toronto. Definitely.

Minneapolis/St. Paul

I can't believe there is not an Austin site yet! AUSTIN!

Add my voice to Jim G's and those who say the divisions are totally nonsensical. Also bordering on insulting for anyone with any sense of regional uniqueness and pride. You need a new region, especially if the above is supposed to even loosely reflect cultural or regional identity, and not geography.

Oh, yah sure, you betcha...Twin Cities all the way!

All those complaints about the division of Canada must come from T.O.

I'm a bad British Columbian and, finally, someone sees Canada the same way I do...British Columbia (heaven!) and then the rest of the country.

Toronto has a world-class design scene.

Toronto hosts many top people in the field: KPMG, II by IV, Yabu Pushelberg (started here before going to NYC), Jack Diamond, Frank Gehry, Ciccone Simone, the list goes on.

The retail and trade scene here is also top-notch, both in terms of new design and also vintage sources that draw on Canada's unique history -- stuff you won't see in the U.S.

There are also no shortage of cool residential buildings here. Toronto is very similar to Chicago in terms of great loft conversions from old industrial buildings, thanks to a manufacturing heritage before becoming Canada's financial hub.

Toronto also has the money, old and new, that can drive condo and loft growth, which in turn fuels the design scene.

Another hopeful vote for Toronto!

Not KPMG... I meant KBMP Architects

Atlanta! Atlanta! Atlanta!

Toronto, pretty please.

New Orleans!

Oh, sad! I am thinking of moving down to Nashville in about six months, and I would have loved to applied!

At any rate, I'll also vote for a Southern locale, be it one of the cities in Georgia (ATL, Savannah), Tennessee (Nashville or Memphis) or Austin. Southern cities have such a different vibe and interesting eclectic-meets-traditional aesthetics that would be very different from SF, LA, NYC, or Chicago.

Toronto

Check out -
Spacing Toronto blog http://spacing.ca/wire/

Sharp Centre for Design
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/sharpcentre/index.htm

Atlanta!

Canada definitely needs to be represented, and Toronto is where it should happen. If my FT job wasn't so demanding I'd totally love to apply. Bummerzzz

Minneapolis!

Indy before Columbus or Cincinnati, but Minneapolis or Toronto should probably come first.

I'd love to see Minneapolis represented. I don't live there, but from what I've seen, it's really a great city.

H O U S T O N

I'm a Chicago girl but the twin cities would be AMAZING. It's such an artistically creative city -- they'd have great perspectives (and photos) to offer!

Houston!!!

New Orleans would be fantastic. Interesting and unique style...and rebuilding efforts combined to boot.

OliviaLeigh,

I feel your pain. I will be moving to New Orleans June 15th and were I already there, my application would have been submitted tonight.

Toronto!
And yeah, nice map.

montreal is so much cooler then toronto, pick montreal.

Canadian AT readers . . . stylenorth, a new AT-style blog about Canadian interiors, sources, designers, is launching in June. Email chris-jones@rogers.com if you'd like to blog. Focus is on Toronto at first but we've got our sights on the whole country. Love to hear from you all!

As much as I'd L-O-V-E a blogger from the 'Lou, I really agree that the AT coverage (Midwest and Beyond), is lacking some serious representation from both the South AND Canada. We have SOOO many readers from both places, who have totally different sets of resources but the same mission.

Yay! Looking forward to a new face and voice! :)

Twin Cities, c'mon n' REPREZENTTT.

WHILE IM NOT IN THE TARGET LOCATION I AM IN CHARLOTTE, I HOPE THE EAST COAST COMES ON DOWN THE MASON DIXON LINE AND SEE WHAT GREAT THINGS WE HAVE.

I WOULD LOVE TO BE A BLOGGER AND HAVE ALL THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO DO SO.

WE DONT HAVE AN IKEA (ALTHOUGH ONE SHOULD BE OPENING UP IN THE SPRING OF 2009), WE HAVE A DWR-CRATE AND BARRELL (NO CB2 THOUGH).

SO I VOTE OF DETROIT! NOTWITHSTANDING SOMEONE WILL PUT CHARLOTTE, NC ON THE MAP!

Atlanta is NOT in the midwest!

I'm not sure why Texas got divided -- or why Florida is with New York ... or the whole Canada thing. I see AT Chicago as very city-centric -- not a lot of coverage outside the upper Midwest. So I'd go with someone from Atlanta, Houston or Dallas to 1) balance the coverage geographically and 2) read about things closer to me.

There definitely needs to be a Texas blogger at some point, but according to the map, those calling for an Austin-based one need to wait until AT LA needs one.

> I WOULD LOVE TO BE A BLOGGER AND HAVE ALL
> THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO DO SO.

Hmm, I think your post might indicate otherwise...

Montréal would be fantastic!

Austin! ...or at the very least Dallas/Fort Worth.

cokeville, wyoming.

it's right at the confluence of the los angeles, san francisco and chicago regions and the design work coming out of the fossil butte national monument area is among the most cutting edge being produced today.

actually, i live in chicago and no matter what city you add, i'll be excited. i read all of the regions with nearly equal enthusiasm to my beloved windy city.

Denver! Please Denver!

You definitely need to have some Canadian @ AT, the design scene has really taken off lately and has been thriving in cities with such distinction as Toronto and Vancouver. I think we would all love to see what a little Vancouver action could throw our way, the styles are so varied, very much ecologically minded and not to mention fresh and modern.
**Plus geographically, AT would be nicely spread out across the continent! I highly suggest a Canadian contribution, maybe even two to spice things up.
Consider Vancouver!! Please!! If in a year or two you are still searching for an AT blogger I would definitely go out for the post, get some provincial representation on the design scene!

I was definitely thinking Austin myself, since it seems to be one of the most progressive and green/design-aware cities in the country. And I know a number of people here who should be more than able to fill this kind of role.

But then I saw the post by <A HREF="http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/com/User/palindrome"palindrome</A>.

Dang.

Can someone please explain to me how Texas could get cut down the middle like that? I mean, Canada is huge (multiple time zones wide), so it makes sense they might be cut in half. But as big as Texas is, it's still completely contained within a single timezone.

Oh, well. Your loss.

Uh, that was supposed to be "... the post by palindrome."

The system seems to have eaten my HTML. Blargh.

Ok... so most likely my city isn't the first to pop into the minds of many...but its a great city and should be the next AT adventure!

Its.... MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin!!

A up-and-coming urban-y/independent area, Milwaukee has so much to offer. Historic buildings, new construction, beautiful Lake Michigan, tall buildings, historic homes, swanky condos, coffee shops, the Third Ward. Its great! We have a mixture of college students, young professionals, mature adults, families, etc. We are the home of Miller Brewing company, The Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, and the Milwaukee Bucks. There is always something to do and always a new type of person to meet.

Many forgotten parts of my city are being renovated, and I can't wait to see what their future holds!

Think about it peeps! :)

-Lori

Manitoba is in Western Canada (yep, it's true). You were right in believing that there is no central Canada (though Ontario would try to convince you of otherwise).

As a Canadian, AT Chicago is actually my personal favorite on this site. It's a canuck friendly city that understands seasonal living (yay winter!) so I appreciate them taking claim to Eastern ( Manitoba) Canada.

the south really needs representation
Houston is the 4th largest city in the country!

Biased votes for St. Louis, Columbus, and Minneapolis which is very stylish.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with Jim G about having a south or southeastern division that would perhaps include an undivided Texas. The people from Minneapolis, Kansas City, Canada, etc. are making great cases for their respective areas -- areas that have different lifestyles and design needs than the Southern states that are grouped with them.

i agree with having someone from the south

Birmingham, Alabama please!
We have lots of home grown shops and the architecture scene has boomed lately with fun hidden modern treasures!

We've got Mockbee and Rural Studio in Alabama too!

I think the South is in dire need of AT representation! Atlanta, New Orleans, Memphis, maybe even an overall, regional take since that's really how we do things down here...it's a big hodgepodge of eccentricity.

Detroit or Montreal

Toronto would be so appreciated. It would be nice to have the contrast of a Canadian scene, plus some info on Canadian resources for your Canadian readers.

How much does a part-time blogger roughly make for 3-4 posts a day?

arza

no doubt that we have a lot of design resources and a great city for incubation in toronto, but my point was just that we're a new city. we just don't have the same history as many american cities and at times are struggling to define what really makes "toronto" if not "canadian" design/style.

we are definitely coming out with some amazing designers though, fashion/industrial/etc. and so there is a lot that we do offer. i'm just lamenting some of our history. even the lofts that someone else mentioned are mostly new construction with most of it following design cliches. just check out the pug awards to see some of the ill-designed projects popping up all over the city in the past year. http://www.pugawards.com/

Isn't there any love for the east coast?

I would love to represent Pittsburgh..not only do we have a lovely representation of an antiquated/vintage city mixed with some modern things here and there (we have flare!) but we have tons of art scenes and festivals that could be represented in AT (or vice versa for that matter)...

..I travel often enough, maybe that'll warrant an application....

MPLS/St. Paul! I live in a northeast minneapolis residential area, and there are close to a dozen art galleries within 5 blocks of my house. We have been rated among the best art cities in the world several times (believe it or not), and there's a ton of original work and innovation happening amongst local artists and small businesses. Yes, I am horribly biased, but the sheer saturation and quality of design around here is astounding.

Madison, Wisconsin! A highly creative city whose talent is often overlooked.