Timothy M. Kobe BS 82

Founding Partner, Principal and Design Director, Eight Inc.

Timothy Kobe is a founding partner, principal and design director for Eight Inc. He graduated with honors from ArtCenter in 1982 with a BFA in Environmental Design.

Kobe worked in Los Angeles for Herb Rosenthal and Associates and at the American Broadcasting Companies. Following graduation, he was employed in New York by Murray Gelberg. In 1982, he took a position with The Burdick Group in San Francisco. He worked at the firm founded by ArtCenter alumnus Bruce Burdick until 1987, when he became a founding partner of West Office Design Associates focusing on museum and exhibition design and was responsible for the master planning of several museum exhibitions throughout the United States and Asia.

As founder and CEO for Eight Inc. (with offices in San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, London, Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore), Kobe has developed a design studio based on a transdisciplinary approach, including architecture (both residential and commercial), exhibitions, interior, product and graphic design. Clients include Apple, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Citibank, Coach, Knoll and Swatch among others. Many projects have received international design awards and have been published in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Eight Inc. awards include being named one of six "Design Firms of the Year" in 2011 by DDI Magazine's Portfolio Awards program; 2010 Good Design Award (Japan), Citibank Nihonbashi; 2010 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards, Nominee in Architecture; 2009 Hong Kong Design Award, Retail, Nokia, Shanghai; 2009 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Best Future Projects: Education, Malama Learning Center; 2007 AIA Honolulu, Malama Learning Center, Unbuilt Project Award; 2007 NASFM, Grand Prize, Pop Up Store, Nike Zoom LeBron IV NYC; 2006 Architectural Record "Katrina Design Competition: High-Density on the High Ground" - First Place winner; 2006 VM+SD International Visual Competition, First Place, Nokia, Moscow Flagship; 2003 NAIOP Award; Project of the Year (2100 Kalakaua); 2003 Malama Learning Center competition winner; 2002 IDSA; IDEA Gold Winner for Environments (Apple Retail Stores); 2002, 2000 and 1999 IDSA; IDEA Gold and Silver Winners for Environments (Apple Worldwide Exhibitions); 2001 IIDA Interior Design Award; IDSA IDEA Silver Award and FX International Interior Design Awards (Virgin Atlantic Airways Lounge); 1997 ID Magazine International Design Review, Environments (Swatch Olympic Pavilion for the 1996 Olympic Games); 1994 Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award (Liisa flatware); 1994 ID Magazine International Design Review, Environments (Architects and Heroes, Bush Street); 1994 Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award (Laguna lounge Chair); 1994 Cooper Hewitt permanent collection (Liisa flatware); 1993 NEOCON Best of Show Gold Medal Award (Laguna seating); and 1993 ID Magazine International Design Review, Concepts (Portable Navigation Unit).

Eight Inc. employs ArtCenter alumni from the fields of product and environmental design, and has employed ArtCenter students as interns. In 2000, Kobe created a $50,000 scholarship in memory of an ArtCenter alumnus.

A northern California native, he currently lives in Singapore. He has been a Trustee at ArtCenter since 2005.