Bay Area design has changed the world over and it’s not just lately with tech successes like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. A rich design culture has formed here, from architecture and housewares to personal computers and outdoor equipment, all of which has rich design roots in Silicon Valley. At this event we will have conversations with some some of the Bay Area’s pioneers of Innovative Design companies in an effort to understand what in the past has influenced and fostered this innovative design and where it has led us to where we are today, so that we can project and better prepare for the frontiers of all design culture tomorrow.
CEO, Whipsaw
Dan Harden is President and principal designer of Whipsaw Inc., where he directs the strategic and conceptual direction of most client accounts. Dan came to the Bay Area in 1989 with a love of design and technology to join frogdesign, and eventually formed his own firm Whipsaw in 1999. His contribution and influence on Bay Area design, including prolific design innovation, team building, and working with luminaries like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, give him an insightful perspective on the event topic. Throughout his thirty-five year consulting career Dan has designed hundreds of successful products in diverse fields ranging from baby bottles to supercomputers, for startups and major International brands including AT&T, Braun, Brita, Dell, Ford, GE, Google, Intel, Logitech, Motorola, Olympus, Samsung, Sony, and many more. Dan has won over 260 design awards and granted over 300 patents. Fast Company named him one of the 100 Most Creative People, calling him “design’s secret weapon”, and was inducted into the World Technology Network honoring those doing the most innovative work of the greatest long term significance. Prior to coming to the Bay Area in 1999, Dan worked at Henry Dreyfuss Associates, George Nelson Associates, HP and Richardson/Smith.
Barry Katz
IDEO Fellow/ Industrial Design Professor CCA
Barry Katz is an expert in the history/theory of design and technology in the Bay Area. He has written numerous books about this subject including, (with Tim Brown) Change By Design, and most recently, Make it New: The History of Silicon Valley Design (MIT Press, 2015). Barry uses his training on design history/culture to teach Industrial and Interaction Design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and he is also a Consulting Professor in the Design Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Stanford. Outside of academia Barry is a fellow at IDEO, Silicon Valley’s leading design and innovation consultancy , where he is engaged in the front-end research on projects ranging from medical to consumer products. Barry was educated at McGill University in Montréal, the London School of Economics, and holds a doctorate from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Rob Forbes
Founder, Design Within Reach and Public Bikes
Rob Forbes has been a ceramic artist, professor, author, publisher, photographer, and business entrepreneur. He has held executive positions at numerous retail companies, but is best known as the Founder of Design Within Reach (1998) and PUBLIC Bikes (2009). DWR pioneered many changes that have become mainstream today: internet retailing of modern design, design blogging, transparent pricing, and a focus on designers themselves as much as on their products. PUBLIC bikes is a similar business model but a mission to bring design awareness to our public urban spaces and to our civic lives. Rob has received numerous awards and public recognition for his advocacy of art, design, and urbanism and serves on several boards in the non-profit sector. He recently authored See for Yourself published by Chronicle Books, a visual study and search for beauty in our everyday world.
