This is a series about design, creativity and the people behind dope work.

I flew to Kalamazoo, Michigan to spend two days with Ridd, the designer who spots design trends before they’re trends.

When he posts something, it usually blows up within a year.

I went there to learn his curation process. How he finds the designers, tools, and ideas early.

It turns out the technique is the easy part. What actually makes him good at this is something deeper. And it completely changed how I think about tastemaking.