Localgroup Studio is pleased to be recently featured over at the site for Bellingham Entrepreneurs, a non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to building the early-stage entrepreneurial community and ecosystem in Bellingham. After softly opening to the public in late March with our first Design Drinks + Talks event, we are excited to make more connections within the local community and to announce our official opening to the public as a creative coworking space. Thanks to Rhys Faler at Bellingham Entrepreneurs for announcing the opening of our design-supportive, shared office in this very thoughtful introduction to the Studio's space, mission, and culture.
To summarize some key points in the article, we firmly believe in supporting the creative work of our community and hope to grow the ambition, volume, and critical nature of Bellingham's design discussions by creating space for connecting, whether locally, regionally, or internationally. To this end, the Studio hosts periodic social and educational events like Design Drinks + Talks and Data Visualization classes. Outside of regular office hours, the Studio is committed to using design to create meaningful civic engagement with projects that benefit the community and environment. Localgroup currently provides space for activities by groups operating in Bellingham, Whatcom County, and the greater Cascadia region, including Bellingham.design's peer mentoring program, Cascadia Deaf Nation, the Bellingham chapter of FairVote Washington, and What Now Bellingham.
Alan McConchie is the founder and head of Localgroup Studio. He was born in Bellingham and raised in the Fairhaven neighborhood. He recently relocated back to the city after living in San Francisco, where he is Lead Cartographer at Stamen Design, an internationally recognized data visualization and map design studio. With Stamen, he has taught classes with clients such as the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Facebook, and Pinterest. He has also taught data visualization and online mapping courses to Facebook, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, and the World Health Organization.