Simon Anton (Detroit, MI; he/him) is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and educator that collaborates across the fields of architecture, interior design, furniture, art, and jewelry. He is the co-founder of Thing Thing, a design collective that experiments in the transformation of post-consumer, hand-recycled polyethylene plastic sourced from surrounding communities and from industrial manufacturing. He facilitates “Transforming Trash,” where he works with youth in Detroit to transform community plastic waste into art. He is also the cofounder of Got Grief House where he promotes art as a means of grief counseling. His work has been presented at the Hong Kong Shenzhen Biennale, Expo Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Venice Architecture Biennale. Anton received a Master of Fine Arts in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
EDUCATION
MFA in 3D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, 2020
BS Arch, U of M Taubman College, 2012
Comparative Literature, NYU, 2006-2009
AWARDS
Beth Redmond Prize, 2020
President’s Award for Sustainability, 2020
GRANTS
National Endowment for The Arts, “Transforming Trash: Repurposing Plastics to Enhance Public Parkscapes and Revitalize Communities”, Hawaii, 2022
Knight Art Challenge “Transforming Trash”, Detroit, 2021
Larsen Travel Grant, 2019
TALKS
Panelist “Canal to Cuyahoga”, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023
“Plastic Thinking”, East Hawaii Cultural Center, 2022
Artist Talk, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2022
Artist talk, Yale School of Architecture, 2020
Pecha Kucha, Dundee, 2017
“Design is not Sustainable”, Seoul, 2016
“Thing Thing”, Oregon College of Art and Craft, 2016
EXHIBITIONS
Everlasting Plastics, US Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy May 2023
Here x Now, Detroit Month of Design, Detroit, MI Sept 2021
Never Normal, Detroit Month of Design, Detroit, MI Sept 2020
Kindred Spirits, East Hawaii Cultural Center, Hilo, Hawaii Nov 2019
Substance, Detroit Month of Design, Detroit, MI Aug 2019
Form & Seek, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy Mar 2019
Works in Progress, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI Dec 2018
In Good Company, Fernando Mastrangelo Gallery, New York, New York Sept 2018
PLASTICSCENE, London Design Festival, London, England Sept 2018
Factory Floor, Dundee Design Festival, Dundee, Scotland May 2017
Footwork, Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne, France Mar 2017
Nuclear Family, 1.5 Rooms (with the Graham Foundation) Brooklyn, New York Oct 2016
Maker Maker, Shenzhen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale Of Urbanism\Architecture Dec 2015
Green Space, Culture Lab Detroit, Detroit, MI Oct 2015
READY-TO-HAND, PRESENT- AT-HAND, CVA Gallery, University of Toledo Aug 2015
Mobile Homestead Artist in Residence, MOCAD, Detroit May 2015
Detroit Creative Ventures Exhibition, College of Creative Studies, Detroit May 2014
CHICAGOLAND, Wanted Design, ICFF New York, NY Apr 2014
/DIALOGUES, Collectors Xchange, Expo ChicagoChicago, IL Sept 2012
Common Ground: 13178 Moran Street, Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy Aug 2012