Rob Forbes, View Master
Renowned artist and entrepreneur, the founder of Design Within Reach sees the world through the eyes of style
With an MFA in ceramics and an MBA from Stanford, Rob Forbes is a rare breed. The artist-cum-entrepreneur has done stints as director of marketing at Williams-Sonoma and director of business development at Smith & Hawken.
These days he is best known for the company he founded, Design Within Reach. In just four years, the modern furniture catalog and Net retailer has expanded from one San Francisco showroom to 56 locations across the country.
Many know Forbes through his newsletter -- a weekly e-mail that delivers design news, first-hand accounts, and reflections accumulated as he crosses the globe between design events and research trips. Readers of his newsletter won't be surprised to hear that Forbes' view of design is highly influenced by How to See, a book written by midcentury designer George Nelson.
"I realized that most of our perceptions of modern design were based on what was served up in the design press," says Forbes. "I began seeing how there was a silent hand of design at work, most noticeable in urban areas where we have the greatest concentration of man-made stuff."
At this year's TED conference, Forbes gave a presentation about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, and gaining cultural insights from compositions that exist on the streets and in public spaces. "Finding aesthetic compositions where they were not intended gives me a sense of optimism," he says. In the following images, we get a chance to see through Rob Forbes' eyes.