After growing up in his family's furniture business Tom Barber studied architecture and sculpture and began designing furniture. "I started out eating sawdust at age 12 in the factory and it is in my blood now...It's a wood thing!"
With over 40 years experience, including 10 years as a Vice President of Operations overseeing manufacturing and product development for a major manufacturer, Tom understands commercial furniture from all sides: design, manufacturing, and installation.
In 1994 Tom founded Barber Design Products.
"Tom is great to work with. I can tell him what we need or show him a picture, and he does all the shop drawings. And he's great on follow through--always on time and at the quoted price."
-- Joyce Polhamus
SmithGroup Architects
"For the last 20 years I have had the pleasure of working with Tom Barber. He can always be counted on for his attention to detail, quick sketches and prompt, excellent service delivered with good humor. Tom has an uncanny way of ascertaining a client’s needs even before they can be articulated. This is quite a gift and he provides great support to all the designers who work with him. He is definitely one of my favorite people in the business."
-- Lisa Lauer
Lauer Design Associates
"Tom provides service and follow up in a very timely manner. He is good with clients and extremely knowledgeable about the lines he handles. Dealing with Tom is always a pleasure."
-- Carol Tippet, ASID, CID
Carol Tippet/Design Consultants
Justin Barber
Justin has a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Statistics from San Francisco State University. He worked a few years at UPS while in school and after graduating worked in the insurance industry as an underwriter for a few more. He joined Tom in Barber Design Products in June of 2008. Furniture is not new to Justin. As a child he would follow Dad around the family manufacturing plant on weekends and summers. From time to time he would come to some Barber Design Products installations to help out and learned the importance of getting the job done right and on time.
For fun Justin tutors math to college students. He also goes on endurance bicycle tours like the AMGEN ride in the photo from SF to LA, which he has done every year since 2002. Go ahead….ask him how many miles he rode last weekend.
