You can tell what drives the folks behind the Designer Fund by simply walking into their office space -- it feels like a cross between a hotel lobby and a zen garden (complete with tatami mats), and it was designed that way to make its designer community feel comfortable and inspired. And if you haven't guessed it by now, the Designer Fund is exactly what you'd expect it to be: an angel fund that supports designer-focused founders and entrepreneurs.

This week the fund, led by co-Directors Enrique Allen and Ben Blumenfeld, announced that it's opened up its designer-in-residence program -- called Bridge -- for the next session of designers. The Bridge program connects designers with design-oriented startups in San Francisco, like Path, Airbnb, Dropbox, Pinterest, and Flipboard, and the Designer Fund is now looking for applicants for its Fall program.

For the occasion, we sat down with Allen and Blumenfeld and picked their brains on why they think designer entrepreneurs have unique skills and why they don't want to fund the next-generation of skinny jeans.

We'll be focusing on how design is changing the technology industry at our annual RoadMap event in November in San Francisco (tickets will go on sale later this summer and you can learn about RoadMap here).