Rob Forbes' career includes work in both the Arts and Business fields. Forbes is best known as the Founder of Design Within Reach and for the vision of a business that has grown into the leading retail destination for modern design in the US. In 2007, Rob formally left DWR to launch Studio Forbes, based in San Francisco, to further his interests in design, culture, and commerce. These interests, and his personal passion for bicycles led him to his new venture PUBLIC. PUBLIC launched in May 2010 as a design-based business with a mission to encourage us to think more intelligently and artfully about the way we relate to our cities and communities. With headquarters at 123 South Park in San Francisco, PUBLIC has become the leading nationwide direct source for European styled modern city bikes and gear.

Background: Forbes' academic training includes a BA in Aesthetics from the University of California at Santa Cruz (1974), an MFA from Alfred University (1979) and an MBA from Stanford University (1985). His art career includes ceramics studio work and exhibitions in the US and teaching positions at the Cleveland Institute of Art and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His business experience includes work here and abroad in retail management for Williams-Sonoma, London-based Selfridges, The Nature Company, and Smith & Hawken prior to Founding Design Within Reach in 1998 and PUBLIC in 2009.

PROFESSIONAL NOTES

ADVISORY BOARDS and COUNCILS
Public Architecture • Dwell Magazine • California College of the Arts • Blu Dot • SFJAZZ • San Francisco Mayors Council on Greening • SFMOMA Architecture & Design Accessions Committee • National Mayors Institute on City Design • Russell Wright Design Center • San Francisco Bike Coalition • ICFF • DWR • Creative Growth • PUBLIC Bikes

PROFILED OR COVERED IN
Time Magazine: Visionaries of 2007 • Los Angeles Times • New York Times • New York Times Magazine • San Francisco Chronicle • Dallas Morning News • Miami Herald • Dwell Magazine • Graphis Magazine • Fortune Small Business Magazine • Surface Magazine • Newsweek Titan of Design, October 20, 2003 • Business Week: Rob Forbes, View Master • Apartment Therapy • Monocle • Wired • Fast Company • Treehugger • Martha Stewart • Vogue • Daily Beast

AWARD RECIPIENT
National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artists Grant 
Russel Wright Award
Metropolitan Home's Design 100 – Revolutionary Retailer
Bon Appétit Tastemaker of the Year

CONFERENCE PRESENTER
World Congress on Environmental Design for the New Millennium, Seoul, Korea • IDCA (International Design Conference, Aspen) • DWR Spark Conference Organizer and Chairman • TED Conference • AIGA: Risk and Entrepreneurship • IIT Design Conference • Haystack Mountain Craft School • Society for Environmental Graphic Design • Stanford GSB Marketing Summit • Retail and Visual Design Magazine • Society for Environmental Graphics and Design • Stanford GSB Marketing Summit • Retail and Visual Design Magazine • Society for Environmental Graphics and Design • International Retail Design Conference • Commonwealth Club Pecha Kucha Conference • Watershed Conference • IDEO • Goodby Silverstein & Partners • Interbrand NYC • Yale: Symposium on George Nelson

JUROR
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards
ID Magazine Annual Design Review
Business Week/Architectural Record Awards
Time and Leisure Magazine Design Awards
Formica Graphic Design
Oregon Manifest Constructors Design Challenge
Apartment Therapy Design Showcase
PUBLIC Architecture Design Access Conference

PUBLICATIONS
Editor Studio Forbes Newsletter and Blog
Editor DWR Design Notes.1999-2007
Editor of revision of How to See, by George Nelson
Contributor: Ngo and Pfeiffer Book Bent Ply, Maeda's Laws of Simplicity
See For Yourself (Editor and Publisher)
PUBLIC WORKS (Exhibition and Catalog Director)