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Tim Kobe designed the first Apple stores and changed the retail landscape bringing a completely different approach to how brands created meaningful relationships with their customers. SKU count and price point were no longer the differentiators – experience was. His new book “Return On Experience” draws on his career creating retail and hospitality places for some of the most recognized brands on the planet.
Kobe, the Founder and CEO of his own international design firm Eight Inc. talks with host David Kepron about design for enhanced human experience, creativity, change and building meaningful connections with customers as well as working with Steve Jobs and creating the Apple stores.
INFO ON TIM KOBE
Tim’s LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/timkobe
Website: eightinc.com (Company Website)
Phone: 1 415 8501828 (Mobile)
Email: kobe@eightinc.com
Twitter: TimKobe
BIO:
Sometimes called “Apple’s best kept secret” Eight Inc. is one of the most progressive design firms working today. 8 is helping to transform organizations to be relevant in the worlds most highly competitive environments by looking at the design factors that drive successful human interactions. Tim Kobe is a design leader, Founder and CEO of Eight Inc. Eight Inc. employs leading designers and strategists working across 11 offices including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Istanbul, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore. 8 has received international design awards and has been published in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Tim Kobe has lectured at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena; California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco; San Francisco Academy of Art; and at IDSA Awards Presentation, 1997. He has lectured on behalf of the US State Department focused on sustainability and architecture in Bangkok and Los Angeles. He has lectured at the prestigious Picnic in Amsterdam, an annual design conference merging business and technology and continues speaking internationally on a variety of design subjects.
In 2005 Kobe became a trustee at Art Center College of Design and currently serving as Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Grabhorn Institute in San Francisco California.
In 2006 Kobe received the top award for the professional competition “High Density on the High Ground.” sponsored by McGraw-Hill Companies’ Architectural Record magazine and Tulane University School of Architecture. 8 was selected to represent the United States at the Architecture Bienniale in Venice Italy and participated in a worldwide traveling exhibition on the project.Ongoing consulting relationships with leaders in business and innovation: Apple, ANZ Bank, Citibank, Coach, Herman Miller, HP, Hyatt, Nissan, Nokia, Nike, Virgin Atlantic Airways
Episode Intro:
I remember standing on 5th Avenue in New York and looking at a glass cube.
This was a portal into a new world.
While Apple stores had been around for a few years, this was the big splash that quickly became on of the most photographed of New York’s landmarks.
Apple stores shifted the retail world on its access. No longer would a shopping journey be defined by SKU count – how many units you could cram on the floor – but how the experience connected you to the magic of a brand in truly innovative way. It elevated the product to fine art or fine jewelry, which was probably appropriate since is was competing for attention with some of the most recognized retailers on the planet, like Tiffany, just a block away.
That paradigm shift in retail store design was born our of a white paper on why Apple should have its own stores after entering the personal computer market and bringing their products to consumers through third party sellers.
After designing MacWorld events for Steve Jobs and Apple some years before, Tim Kobe and his Architecture and Design firm Eight Inc. was challenged with the task of creating the first Apple stores. They have held that relationship for the last 20+ years.
Sometimes called “Apple’s best kept secret” Eight Inc. is one of the most progressive design firms working today. 8 is helping to transform organizations to be relevant in the worlds most highly competitive environments by looking at the design factors that drive successful human interactions.
Tim Kobe is a design leader, Founder and CEO of Eight Inc. Eight Inc. employs leading designers and strategists working across 11 offices including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Istanbul, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Among other honors and awards, 8 was selected to represent the United States at the 2006 Architecture Bienniale in Venice Italy and participated in a worldwide traveling exhibition on the project.
Now, Apple would be a pretty great client to have on the resume, but Tim Kobe has work with a list of major internationally recognized brands including Citibank, Coach, Herman Miller, HP, Westin, Hyatt, Nissan, Nokia, Nike and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Tim has just published a new book in collaboration with Roger Lehman, a psychoanalyst and senior lecture at the MIT Sloane School of Management, called “Return on Experience”.
And, I am excited to talk with Tim since he really exemplifies, in one guy, all of the categories in the “DATA” acronym for NXTLVL including Design, Architecture, Technology and the Arts.
Welcome Tim.
INFO ON DAVID KEPRON