Rob Forbes’ ruthless vision

By Janet Eastman

March 23, 2006 in print edition F-1

ROB FORBES stands in his large dining room, a room best described by what isn’t there. No table, no artwork, no window treatments, nothing to clutter the space or block the 180-degree view of his swimming pool or his rural property. Almost lost against a fluorescent-white wall is a midcentury rosewood desk designed by Osvaldo Borsani. A black floor lamp and a plywood chair are next to it.

“There’s not a lot in here and I may keep it that way,” says the founder of Design Within Reach, a company that innovated how America buys and decorates with modern design.

Forbes, 54, spends his workdays surrounded by classic pieces by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Isamu Noguchi and George Nelson, yet when he breaks away from his San Francisco headquarters and his Russian Hill flat to spend a dozen days a month at his house in the Sonoma wine country, he leaves most of it behind.

Curiously, Forbes is in business to furnish homes, but he seems in no hurry to finish his own. “I haven’t figured it all out yet,” explains the bachelor, who hasn’t hired a decorator for the house he purchased two years ago. “This will be a nice additive process.”

The scant pieces in his dining room and throughout his home reflect a fine-tuned consistency – a passion for elegance, simplicity and purposefulness – as well as a degree of privacy. While profiles of his city digs have played in magazines and newspapers, he relishes the seclusion of his country home.

IN the family room, music pours out of a pale yellow radio and turntable with a Swiss-cheese facade that was designed by Achille Castiglioni in the 1960s. It should come as no surprise that Forbes favors the music of the ’50s and ’60s: John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulligan. Nearby is an orange recliner by Borsani from the 1950s and a faded green Spanish Fase floor lamp, probably from the 1970s.

In the kitchen that opens to the dining and family room, Forbes is serving espresso in blue pedestal cups he found in Barcelona and joking that the images of reclining and prancing figures on the cups are “quasi erotic.”

“The truth is that I really enjoy the search about as much as anything, finding unusual pieces, learning the stories behind them. They become the centerpieces in the house and I will fill in around them,” Forbes says.

He found most of his holdings at flea markets and antique stores in Europe. Just a few items are new, including a rug and a bed frame, which are sold by his company. “The reason I have many midcentury pieces here is that they have a similar design integrity as the house,” says Forbes of the one-story built in 1962. “They do not look old or nostalgic. Many pieces like the Borsani recliner are still in production. They have a built-in optimism, that good design lasts and does not need to be replaced.”

Forbes’ modern aesthetic at home and work is perhaps best summed up by a quote by California architect William Wurster that is printed on the walls of Design Within Reach showrooms: “Over and over again I would reiterate that modern is a point of view, not a style.”

Indeed, the easygoing Forbes – who grew up in Pasadena and Laguna Beach and was a surfer, potter and art teacher before turning to the retail trade at Williams-Sonoma and then Smith & Hawken – does not pretend to be an arbiter of style. “Who the hell cares what I think? My deal is ‘figure it out yourself.’ It’s about the process of developing your own point of view.”

To help, the former teacher writes a weekly newsletter that is e-mailed to 400,000 subscribers. Design Notes is friendly, but not fawning. Like the midcentury designs he collects and sells through his company, his words are spare and without frills. Even the company’s name has been clipped to DWR.

To research his newsletter, this self-described “cultural anthropologist” (he’s actually a Stanford MBA with a degree in aesthetic studies from UC Santa Cruz) looks for examples of good design – a well-proportioned building – and bad – a single-level parking structure – while strolling city streets.

“Someone called me a ‘design missionary.’ I see myself more like a design streetwalker,” says Forbes. “I take 5,000 photographs a year while walking the streets and looking for evidence of design. I’m fascinated by composition. I look for extraordinary details in ordinary objects. I’m really a student of design, trying to see and learn more for myself everyday.”

And he’s not shy about proselytizing. In his conversations, his newsletters, even on the price placards in his stores, he’s a teacher who uses stories to interest others in design. Recliners, desks, sofas and lamps are not just objects but creations, and Forbes believes that the people who made them should be acknowledged.

In February, Forbes was selected to speak before the prestigious crowd at TED, the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference held in Monterey, Calif. Conference organizer Chris Anderson wanted Forbes because, he says, “He’s someone who can make people rethink what design is and what it can be. Not just in products you can buy in a store, but the bigger picture. Public spaces, cities. He’s an inspirer and the world needs voices like his to be heard.”

Do people really pay attention to architecture and other designs? Forbes is asked. “Yes,” he says. “Look around you. All there is are cars and buildings. It’s huge, even if you’re not trying to pay attention to it.”

Forbes believed that American interest in modern design could grow with enough exposure, education – and efficiency. DWR’s hallmark is its ability to deliver Le Corbusier’s cowhide chaise longue, Charles and Ray Eames’ sofa or Marcel Breuer’s black-strapped Wassily Chair in weeks rather than the months it typically takes an interior designer or architect to order it through a furniture showroom.

DWR made its first mail-order sale in 1999. It now distributes almost 1 million catalogs a month and has expanded to include 58 stores across the U.S., 16 in California alone. Sales in 2004, the latest annual figures available, were $120.6 million, a 49% increase from the year before, according to company statements.

A sense of timelessness attracted Forbes to this modern house with vaulted ceilings, skylights and glass walls that extend from one room into the next. It was built on six acres when buttoned-up Victorians and bungalows dotted the neighboring agricultural land.

A potential buyer wanted to tear down the 2,000-square-foot house and build a larger one, but Forbes told the owner that he liked the spirit of the place and he saw the need for only minor surgery.

“It felt right,” he says. “It hadn’t been dolled up. There was nothing retro about it. Design like this should be preserved.”

Working with San Francisco architect Nilus De Matran, Forbes updated the kitchen and master bath, and converted an enclosed lanai into the family room, creating a U-shaped living, dining and family room that wraps around the kitchen. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of the backyard.

“The generous windows allow for lots of natural light so you can see and appreciate things easily,” says Forbes, wearing a cotton T-shirt, jeans and well-worn Sperry top-siders. “It encourages reflection and peace of mind.”

After he bought it, Forbes discovered that modernist landscape architect Garrett Eckbo’s firm helped site the house and create the landscaping in the front and backyard. Almost half a century later, the pool could use new plaster, but the layout of the walkways, deck and ornamental fruit trees is still pleasing.

Forbes’ furnishings match the spare lines of his house – from a Danish midcentury modern walnut credenza to new Renzo Piano stainless-steel flatware. And he is an informed tour guide who knows the best way to educate is with facts and humor. He points to a white-shaded Metalarte table lamp made in Spain in the 1960s.

“It’s hard to find a good table lamp,” he says. “This one is so sexy, it makes you wonder why Spain hasn’t done more with lighting. Then I remember, nothing messes up a designer more than a dictator. Just ask the Bauhaus people,” referring to the German style of art and architecture developed between the World Wars.

Forbes is usually serious when he’s discussing modern design. He can spend 20 minutes explaining the difference between the words “modern” and “contemporary” – in a nutshell, modern is a lifestyle while contemporary is a time period. “Everything that is made at any current time is ‘contemporary,’ ” he says.

“Modern is a progressive attitude that takes advantage of new technology and social purpose. It’s a disciplined approach,” he says. The hybrid Toyota Prius is an example of solving an environmental problem “that’s modern thinking.” The iPod works for him with its reduction of gadgetry and gizmos. He says he respects Google for its simplicity. “It’s smart, modern too,” he says.

He rails against “stupid” objects, overcomplicated technological gadgets “like my programmable thermostat that I can’t figure out” and new retro-looking cars that “focus on superficial styling.”

“Modern simplifies our living so we can devote our time to things that add value; it adds to the pool of what makes us important as people. You could be living in a Craftsman and going to work on a bike and that’s a modern lifestyle,” says Forbes, who rides a Vespa the two miles between his office and city loft. “Modern is honest and helps you not be distracted by stuff that have no meaning to you.”

He is so fussy about clutter that his friends know not to bring gifts to his Glen Ellen home.

THE coziest, most decorated room of his country house is the family room. There are cork floors, mouse-gray painted redwood walls and a pitched ceiling Forbes repainted himself until the color – “warm peachy white” – was right.

“The cork floor is an example of a good modern design with a smart point of view,” he says. “The material reduces sound, is comfortable and supportive underfoot, and expands and contracts with the changes in temperature,” Forbes says, with his dog, Simone, at his side. “It looks great and has a nice subtle pattern, but it’s made to endure with low maintenance.”

Forbes flops into an orangy-pink armchair and pulls a small pedestal table toward himself.

“See how clever this is?” he asks, while demonstrating that his legs wrap around the center leg instead of his knees hitting four legs.

He has a vintage Di Carli sofa upholstered in cream Ultrasuede in front of the fireplace in the living room – “if you have a dog that gets muddy, you can appreciate Ultrasuede,” he says – but he’s considering replacing it with a table that will seat 16. “It would be more generous for my friends to sit at a table than crowded on a sofa,” he says.

Down the long hall, with its citrus orange carpet, are the three bedrooms, one of which has white Robin Day chairs with black leather cushions that Forbes thinks don’t work. “It’s part of the learning and discovery process with interior design,” he says. “I make lots of mistakes.”

He closes that door and moves on to the master bedroom and the newly remodeled master bath. The shower stall is door-less now; emerald glass Bisazza tile squares covering half the room.

“There is no art on the walls of this house, but lots [of art] in the products,” Forbes says.

“All this stuff works so effortlessly as if it were designed with the same purpose or intent,” he says. “Danes, Spaniards, Italians and Americans with a shared appreciation for simplicity and elegance. If there’s not much in the room, you notice the details of what you are surrounded by, which is the point after all.”

Sharing his good taste

Rob Forbes, Design Within Reach founder, develops a new blog.

By Janet Eastman

Thursday, October 04, 2007

ROB FORBES was not only the founder of Design Within Reach, but also the writer of the home furnishings store's e-mailed newsletter, Design Notes, which started offering a personal -- and, some might say, more insightful -- take on developments in the design world long before home décor blogs began littering the Internet.

Now the 56-year-old entrepreneur has announced his next venture: Studio Forbes ( www.studioforbes.com), where he will post musings about worldwide design as well as food, wine and culture.

"Design is all about our sensibilities and how they are fused together," Forbes said Monday after flying back home to the Bay Area from Milan. "I don't see how you can separate furniture from the way we live."

He says Studio Forbes is "still in its infancy," and he's not sure what else the website might offer. "Eventually I'd like to have unique products that reflect local culture," he said. "That's broad enough to include food, music, maybe even lamps."

Stating that he had accomplished all that he set out to do with the company, Forbes formally left DWR this summer and announced he no longer would regularly author Design Notes.

His new blog won't be getting the exposure he had at DWR -- those newsletters are e-mailed to more than 400,000 people -- but he's optimistic about starting fresh. He'll still travel the world, taking photographs and filing his reactions to structures, posters, pretty much any compelling example of effective design.

In September, Forbes posted eight blog entries with topics as diverse as "Koolhaas: The Character of Color" and "Does Fidel Castro Have an Email Address?" The latter filing begins: "If you want to learn about the modern world, go to Havana. But go there quickly, before it arrives." Tucked into his zigzagging columns are photographs of old cannons used as roadblocks and fire hydrants sunk into cement. He describes every object he sees -- be it a bus, an arch or a door -- as a social metaphor.

Thought-provoking prose is a hallmark of Forbes, whose DWR newsletters patiently led readers by the hand and walked them through distant design worlds without condescension. He took readers along to the house Le Corbusier designed in La Plata, Argentina, and let them tag along with the movers and shakers of technology, entertainment and design at the invitation-only TED conference in Monterey.

Forbes said he'll continue to contribute occasionally to DWR's Design Notes, much to fans' relief. The sentimental probably never imagined the day when Design Notes would lead with the line that DWR Chief Executive Ray Brunner posted last week: "I recently read an article about dinosaur flatulence. . . . "