Rob Forbes, founder of Design Within Reach and public advocate for modern design, was elected as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum (The Noguchi Museum) at the December 12, 2019, meeting of the Board. Malcolm C. Nolen, Board Chair, said “The Board of Trustees is thrilled to welcome Rob Forbes. He is a skillful and deeply experienced leader in business and civic engagement, and a powerful proponent of good design. His strategic and discerning insights will help to guide the Board’s work. We look forward to working with Rob to advance the mission and vision of The Noguchi Museum.” Mr. Forbes is the fifth trustee elected to the Museum’s board in just over a year, joining new trustees Maximilian Coreth, Sarah Wendell Sherrill, Sundaram Tagore, and Kulapat Yantrasast.

Museum Director Brett Littman added, “The Noguchi Museum will benefit greatly not only from Rob’s business acumen, but also from his professional experience with and deep personal commitment to modern design. We look forward to his insight and counsel as the Museum promotes the appreciation and understanding of Noguchi and his legacy.”

Rob Forbes has been a professional artist, author, business entrepreneur, photographer, critic, and public speaker. The creative director of Studio Forbes, which he founded in 2008, he is best known for his work as the founder of Design Within Reach and PUBLIC Bikes.

Mr. Forbes has served on the board of directors of Public Architecture, Aspen Design Conference, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Design Within Reach, Creative Growth, and PUBLIC Bikes. He also has served on the advisory boards and councils of National Mayors’ Institute on City Design, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Architecture & Design Accessions Committee, San Francisco Mayor’s Council on Greening, Russel Wright Design Center, California College of the Arts, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, and the Russian Riverkeeper.

A frequent guest lecturer at universities and juror for design awards, Mr. Forbes has presented at the TED Conference, IDEO, and IIT Design Conference, among others. He has received several awards and recognitions, including an individual artist grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (1981), The Russel Wright Design Center Modern Design Impresario (2003), Bon Appétit Tastemaker of the Year (2006), and Time Magazine: Visionaries (2007). He is the author of See for Yourself (Chronicle Books, 2015) and has edited over 600 illustrated photo essays on design for Design Notes, 1999–2007, published by Design Within Reach. Mr. Forbes holds an MBA from Stanford, an MFA from Alfred University, and a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was a keynote speaker at the school’s 2016 commencement.

ABOUT THE NOGUCHI MUSEUM
Founded in 1985 by Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), one of the leading sculptors and designers of the twentieth century, The Noguchi Museum was the first museum in America to be established, designed, and installed by a living artist to show their own work. Widely viewed as among the artist’s greatest achievements, the Museum comprises ten indoor galleries in a converted factory building, as well as an internationally acclaimed outdoor sculpture garden. Since its founding, it has served as an international hub for Noguchi research and appreciation. In addition to housing the artist’s archives and catalogue raisonné, the Museum exhibits a comprehensive selection of sculpture, models for public projects and gardens, dance sets, and his Akari light sculptures. Provocative, frequently-changing installations drawn from the permanent collection, together with diverse special exhibitions related to Noguchi and the milieu in which he worked, offer a rich, contextualized view of Noguchi’s art and illuminate his enduring influence as a category-defying, multicultural, cross-disciplinary innovator. noguchi.org | @noguchimuseum