The Burnside Blog

Posted By Mike Thelin on 01/12/2008

When the industrial and strategic design gurus at Portland’s Ziba landed in the Pearl District in 1996, they were nearly alone. “We were here when there was almost nobody, and now we’re in the center of town,” says Ziba founder Sohrab Vossoughi of his NW 11th Avenue and Everett Street office. A dozen years and numerous patents later, Ziba, now among neighbors, plots its next move. This time, the growing firm will transplant its 100-plus employees another seven blocks north to a site just off Lovejoy Street to a neighborhood that’s quickly shaping up, but one that’s still largely undefined. Here’s where Vossoughi saw an opportunity.

Recognizing the increasing role of design in Portland’s creative economy, Sohrab hired Holst Architecture to design a new world headquarters where Ziba can grow while cranking out more of its signature good ideas. (the zip drive, the ergonomic keyboard and the South Waterfront Discovery Center among its past accomplishments). Burnside Blog chatted with Mr. Vossoughi about how his new digs, which breaks ground in March, will engage the design community and what Portland could do to improve its own voice in the dialog of design.

Mike Thelin: Your new building includes a 300-seat auditorium. Sohrab Vossoughi: It’s going to be for public use. The only way you can create a community is by giving back to it, and being a part of it. So the auditorium that will hold about 250 people will be a space where the community or the city can hold events and lectures.

Is there a retail component? We’re looking to make it design-centric. That’s our goal. We’d like a design bookstore or companies that are inspiring. We want to make it a destination. We’ve also been talking to PDC about another resource center for the design and creative community. It wouldn’t be in our building, but it could be around here. We really want to make that area a nucleus for creativity.

Your building won’t be finished until 2009. What about building momentum in the interim? We’re donating a lecture series to the University of Oregon that’s going to be here or in Eugene. In two months, Roger Martin is coming and we’re working with Wieden and Kennedy to use their auditorium. There are a lot of people who want to do this stuff. It will take some time, but once it starts, it will take on its own life. In 2010, we’re event bringing in the Industrial Designers Society of America to Portland the international conference. That’s huge.

What could the city do to foster or create a dialog for the design community? Designers can work in a basement. They can work anywhere; they’re very creative. But why do they go to places like New York and San Francisco? It’s because these cities are quite inspiring, because of the resources available to designers, and because there are things they can do and see. In Portland, we need a design resource center—and not the type of place where you just go to buy furniture. Almost any developed country outside the United States has a design center.

Should it be subsidized? Some help at the city or state level would help. First, let’s bring the community together. That’s why the design festival was successful. It was created and greatly helped by Mayor Katz, who was a very strong advocate of arts and creativity. She supported things, and gave the mandate to make things happen. The best thing we could do is create a central resource center for the design community. There have been those who have tried to build it on its own, but it wouldn’t have been big enough or extensive enough to support our growing creative community.

What would such a resource center entail? Companies like Nike, Adidas and Ziba are fortunate to be at the size where we can create our own resource centers with a materials library, books and things like that. However, most in the design industry are not large players but small ones. There are five people, or ten people…no more than that. The materials are a big part of what inspire designers. It’s not as much about the form anymore but the materials and finishes. Designers must have access to them.

Could such a resource center have an influence beyond Portland? Interestingly enough, Portland is quite central on the West Coast. We are about an hour and a half away from the major cities. From Vancouver, Canada, Seattle, and San Francisco, you can easily fly and be back the same day. So, you could have things here that other cities on the West Coast could have access to, and it would expose Portland’s creative culture. You’d get all the creative people to come use the resource center, and they’d see everything else that’s going on. If you have something that draws someone for a short visit, it’s better than any advertising you could ever do. So, this is where state and city governments could help…to help create this resource center. The University of Oregon is already trying to create a resource center in its building. I’ve talked with all parties, and there’s a willingness to collaborate. So that’s a nice thing. So we can kill several birds with one stone.

Why is now the time to act? We’re entering an era where certainly the next ten years in Portland things will look a lot different than the last. It’s growing, and people are coming. The pace of change is accelerating, and the word is getting out. Portland isn’t a secret anymore. The young and creative are coming.