Founded by Melissa Unger in 2011 as a collaborative, multidisciplinary, project-based initiative, Seymour Projects has evolved alongside technological changes and shifting societal needs. Our projects serve in part as ballasts that provide a counterbalance, a haven, a beat to pause and process.
 
Early on, we recognized the corrosive impact of ‘tether tech’ devices, so we rooted in the offline, the human, the tactile, the elemental. Prioritizing presence over performance, we were hands on and heart led. In a tech saturated world, that inception point remains our guiding principle.
 
Though we’ve created a wide variety of public offerings over the years, our main focus has always been on providing innovative tech-free projects that inspire reflection, encourage personal transformation and empower individuals to nurture meaningful connection to themselves and others.
 
During our early years, Seymour Projects was an ‘underground’ project led by Melissa and lifted by a passionate group of people who donated their time and talent to our daily operations, evolution and growth. It was a wonderful period of open exploration.
 
Back then, Seymour Projects communicated principally via a weekly magazine and a series of ephemeral ‘pop up’ projects in Paris and New York. Hard to categorize, our early works were referred to as social activism, creative intervention, community movement, health & well-being initiatives. We were called philosophical, psychological, counter-culture, conscious; but we weren’t concerned with labels, our intent was simply to experiment, teach, learn and be of service.
 
In 2014, further alarmed by the detrimental effects portable electronic devices were having on the mental health of individuals & communities, Melissa conceived SEYMOUR+ | A Spa For The Mind – a first of its kind, tech-free space for personal reflection, spiritual/emotional healing & creative expression. This haven, where people could disconnect from technology to reconnect with themselves, was funded thanks to a six-figure grant from a private philanthropist. It garnered international recognition for its impact & innovation.
 
From 2014-2017 Seymour Projects operated at 41 Boulevard de Magenta near the Canal St Martin in Paris. This building played host to our SEYMOUR+ space, our community talks and workshops, and to our offices. In late 2017, at the end of the 3 year lease, Melissa trusted her intuition and decided to move beyond that structure in order to evolve Seymour Projects once again.
  
Based in Brooklyn since 2019, Melissa collaborates on a project-by-project basis with a free-flowing community of designers, psychologists, academics, architects, artists, & more. While we don’t produce as profusely as we used to, we remain steadfast in our mission, and also influence behind the scenes by offering guidance and perspective.
  
We dare to envision a future in which all human beings are aligned with their authentic selves, consciously creating their life experience and living harmoniously.