Cerca
Cerca is a design house linked to the land. From the Spanish term for near, referring to proximity, Cerca aims to bundle industrial design expertise with local, sustainable production.
As industry leaves the US for countries abroad, American manufacturers have no choice but to adapt to new markets or fail. A factory in Tenessee will never be able to compete with lower operating costs of countries like Mexico, India and China; their focus will have to shift to new types of products for a new type of customer.
Similar to the local food movement, there is a growing number of consumers looking for stronger relationships to the products and services they use everyday. Cerca seeks to serve people that care not only where their dinner comes from, but also their plates and silverware, their tables, their chairs. Cerca champions a belief that there is value in honest production; smart, sustainable and near the people it serves.
Started by Pratt alum Kevin McElroy, Cerca is the result of numerous design clients seeking not only a beautiful functional object to satisfy their needs, but also some place to get that object produced. After exploring various factories in and around the New York area, McElroy saw facilities with great craft and capabilities with less and less jobs due to evolving and emigrating markets. His goal with Cerca is to create a neighborhood of like-minded designers, vendors and distributors to serve a new of generation of the globally conscious, locally inclined.
Kevin McElroy, BID 2009