New (Old) Digs

The Peak Design HQ grows up.

By Peak Design

where it all began...

You've heard our story before - lovable goofus from Minnesota does the 'Eat, Pray, Love' thing for a while, meets a great idea, and makes a gorgeous baby called Peak Design. But maybe you haven't heard much about where this all went down. Chances are you know that we're from San Francisco, California. If you've been paying attention, you may also know that our offices are on the sunny side of The City in a little neighborhood called Dogpatch. A formerly industrial neighborhood bordering on what were once busy shipyards, Dogpatch has become something of an incubator for small companies doing cool things.

Since we started in 2011, we've had our office in the American Industrial Center. It used to be a giant canning factory and is now a giant building full of startups, caterers, artists, and, up on the fourth floor, a dance-music-blaring group of weirdos known as Peak Design.

But it wasn't always the fourth floor. We (Pete Dering) started by squeezing his desk into a space with two other companies. One made smart vibrators and one made vaporizers (both companies are still in their respective games, btw). The walls were green. It must've been good feng shui. After a couple years, we moved up to a space of our own. It was in a converted ladies bathroom. We were young, eager, and collectively, our hair was shorter. We had some cool ("No, those are not cool." - Molly) leather desk chairs.

level up: Brofessional

In 2014 we scored the lease on our current home on the fourth floor, with great views of the San Francisco hills. We settled in and made it our own. That included painting the floor black, hoisting our bikes to the ceiling, and strategically placing a few plants around. The aesthetic was solidly 'Brofessional,' and we were stoked about it. So stoked that we added a few people to the team and took a jumping photo, a.k.a. The Peter Lockett Special. Confession: it doesn't take much to convince us to do The Peter Lockett Special.

Feel the squeeze

Our office was really great, really. But, in the years that we've been living on the 4th floor, we've grown a lot - by late 2016, we had about 20 people squished in here. That didn't leave much space for full-team Peter Lockett Specials. We knew we needed to make some changes and by a stroke of luck - nothing to do with our loud music, we promise - the space next to ours opened up! So we did the sensible thing and knocked down a wall and moved right in (after signing the necessary paperwork and obtaining all proper permits, of course).

Sure, we lived with some construction noise and dust for awhile, but wow - was it worth it. Special shout out to Molly for the overall design, Robb for the critical engineering, and Zach for some serious sawing of shit. Robb wants you to know that we're happy to share the Solidworks plans for our desks - just let us know!

And finally... totally dialed!

Some pics of the final result to wrap it up. More professional than 'brofessional,' don't you think? Come by and visit us if you're in the neighborhood. We're usually busy building stuff, but you may find us brewing beer or playing ping pong. The highlights of your tour will include seeing our fancy conference room and getting a close up of what our CEO calls 'the nicest shitters I've ever sat in.'