About Design Gym

Our mission is to make design accessible to everyone through tools, activities, projects, and experiences.

Anyone can be a designer. 

Erike De Veyra,

Assoc. AIA, SEED

Designer + Founder

Erike is a designer, project manager, and founder of Design Gym, demystifying design to designers of all ages and levels through tools, activities, workshops, experiences, and providing expertise to increase access and representation in the design industry. Erike uses (her twenty years) of training and experience in architecture to design and develop initiatives, public programs, and experiences for clients and the design curious.  

Erike serves on Jefferson’s College of Architecture & the Built Environment Advancement (CABE) Council and was honored in the inaugural cohort of Philly Girls Do Good—recognizing and celebrating women leaders in design and community development. In the fall of 2017, through the Public Interest Design Institute, became a Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Certified Professional, and previously served on the Board of Directors for the AIA Philadelphia Chapter and the Center of DesignPhiladelphia. Erike has a Bachelor of Architecture and MS in Design Thinking & Entrepreneurship, with over 20 years of experience managing projects and initiatives.

Cherry Street Pier, DesignPhiladelphia 2019

I set out to develop a “design studio for the non-designer,” providing access to the design industry and expanding representation in architecture, fashion design, graphic design, interior design, textile design, and more.

“Everything that is not made by nature is designed by someone.”

- Chip Kidd