Rob Forbes is an American designer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of the furniture company Design Within Reach, and of the bicycle retailer Public Bikes (stylized "PUBLIC").

Early life and education

Forbes grew up in Pasadena and Laguna Beach, California.Los Angeles Time
"Rob Forbes' ruthless vision"
''Los Angeles Times'', March 23, 2006, Janet Eastman He studied aesthetics at

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

and received a Masters of Fine Arts in ceramics from

New York State College of Ceramics The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University (NYSCC) is a statutory college of the State University of New York located on the campus of Alfred University in Alfred, New York Alfred is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town ...

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York, United States. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the statutory New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The In ...

.ArtWeek.LA
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Career

Forbes received a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

grant, and spent his early career as a potter and exhibiting artist; he also taught at

Philadelphia College of Art Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 census. The city is the urb ...

. After earning his MBA at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, Forbes worked as a marketer at Williams Sonoma, Smith & Hawken, and the Nature Company."A Catalogue Comes to Town"
By Deborah K. Dietsch, ''The Washington Post'', June 3, 2004

Design Within Reach

In 1999 Forbes founded the company Design Within Reach, which marketed European modern furnishings to American buyers. Products were shipped directly to the buyer through catalogue and online ordering. After rapid initial growth, Design Within Reach became a public company in 2004. Shortly thereafter Forbes left the company; by 2009 it was in financial difficulty, delisted from the stock exchange and was sold to hedge fund Glenhill Capital Management.

Public Bikes

In 2010 Forbes founded Public Bikes, an online bike retailer. The company designs and sells European-style bicycles aimed at urban cyclists.

Other art and design work

Forbes opened an art studio in San Francisco. In 2011, he curated an exhibit of pottery and ceramics at Frank Lloyd Gallery in Santa Monica.
''Culture Monster'', August 19, 2011 Forbes writes and lectures on visual thinking and modern design. He presented a TED Talk, "Ways of Seeing" in 2006, and has also spoken at AGFA SF. Forbes has written a book called ''See For Yourself'', released in May 2015. He created and contributes to ''DWR Design Notes'', a monthly newsletter on modernism and design.

Publications

*''See For Yourself'' by Rob Forbes. *''Design Research:'' The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes, 2010 by

Jane Thompson Jane Thompson, AICP (June 30, 1927 – August 22, 2016) was an American urbanist, designer and planner, with an international career exceeding forty years. Biography Thompson (née Fiske) was educated in the fine and applied arts at Vassar Colleg ...

and Alexandra Lange, foreword by Rob Forbes. *''How to See'', 2nd edition by George Nelson, foreword by Rob Forbes. *''Bent Ply'' by Dung Ngo, Eric Pfeiffer, a book about the story of plywood in Modernist furniture design, foreword by Rob Forbes. *''

Heath Ceramics Heath Ceramics is a B Corp certified American company that designs, manufactures, and retails goods for tabletop and home, and is best known for handcrafted ceramic tableware and architectural tile in distinctive glazes.Ann CusacHeath Ceramics i ...

'', a book about the history of the ceramics company by Amos Klausner, contributor Rob Forbes.

References

External links

Studio ForbesPUBLIC BikesDesign Within ReachDWR Design Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Rob Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American designers University of California, Santa Cruz alumni New York State College of Ceramics alumni