Free Pie: Project M's PieLab

I first heard of Project M's PieLab and their latest project through friend and fellow designer Amanda Buck. The idea driving PieLab is simple: a neutral place + a slice of pie = conversation; conversation = ideas; ideas + design = positive change. In May, the first prototype Pie Lab opened in Greensboro, Alabama, where it has been very well received by the town locals.

"I heard about Project M in 2007 after reading the article about it in Good Magazine. I got involved because I really wanted to be a part of this group of young creatives that are using their skills for positive social change. It's exactly the kind of work I wanted to pursue.

My experience at Project M consisted of a 2-week session in Belfast, Maine. Fourteen of us gathered from all over the country and lived, worked, and played together 24/7. With the challenge of having to define and implement a project through group collaboration in only 2 weeks, we quickly immersed ourselves in the Belfast community and went to work. We realized there are a lot of big issues facing our world (global warming, economic meltdown, etc), and we wondered how a small group of graphic designers like ourselves could actually do anything relatively useful in this short amount of time. After much deliberation and exploration, we decided that the best thing to do was to offer a way to embrace the good that already exists in our world by uniting people of all kinds within the community. Our vehicle? Free Pie. So on 3/14 (Pi Day) we surprised the town of Belfast with a pop-up pie stand. Our message was simple, unassuming and honest: Sometimes life is bad; free pie isn’t."

To learn more about Project M and PieLab, click here.