SFDW x UnboxPD

2025 San Francisco Design Week with Unbox! 

This summer, Unbox Product Design proudly opened its studio doors for the first time as part of San Francisco Design Week 2025. It was a chance for us to meet the community, fellow creatives, students, thinkers, and those interested in our work. 

Event link: SF Design Week / Event / Re-Form

San Francisco Design Week is also a time for those in the design community to explore, share, and reflect on our experiences, relationships, and challenges surrounding the work. While cities like NewYork have their own design week, here in San Francisco, we do things a little differently. 

At SFDW, gatherings are often smaller and intimate. Where one can come into a creative’s space and have engaging, insightful one-on-one talks. Each year, SFDW introduces a new theme that may better drive the conversations. We felt essentially connected with this year's theme: Reform.

By pure coincidence, Unbox had just finished publishing an article for Industrial Design Society of America’s (IDSA) Innovation Magazine spring edition titled “Re/Form”,  which you can read here: Re/Form blog

Studio Crawl Night: Opening Our Doors

As first-time contributors to SF Design Week, we were honored to host the community at our SOMA studio during the Studio Crawl Night.

The evening featured a mix of engaging activities such as whiteboard mind maps, hands-on demos, and open discussions set against a backdrop of music, drinks, and conversation. We wanted to create a space where people could not only explore our work, but also connect, collaborate, and exchange ideas on design and beyond. 

We were glad to cultivate a cozy and welcoming atmosphere within our studio that feels both open and intimate, encouraging genuine conversations and spontaneous connections. Many guests gathered on our patio to enjoy fresh air, refreshments, and relaxed networking, while others engaged in thoughtful conversations about our work and process. Whether they were snacking, socializing, or simply exploring the studio, we were excited to share what we do and create an environment that invited people to stay, connect, and be curious.

Theme: Reform

This year’s SF Design Week theme, “Reform,” asked us to examine how designers act as catalysts for meaningful change. As Natalia Kowaleczko from SFDW prompted conversations around transformation, intention, and responsibility in design:

“Design is a delicate balance between transformation and preservation… How do we, as designers, embrace our role as agents of meaningful change?... Is what we’re doing fixing the core of the problem, or is it just a band-aid?”

At Unbox, this is an ongoing conversation we've been having as an Industrial Design, branding, and product development firm. We believe that true reform begins with challenging the instinct to conform and asking these questions: What are we really trying to solve? What future are we building? Whether that is with a new product or brand, we joined the conversation and answered many of these questions in our Innovation Magazine article focusing on the theme: “Where are the Industrial Design breakthroughs?”

In our article, we share the thinking and evolution behind the UHUE device — how its form was shaped by the technology and cartridge design we developed, and how we made bold decisions to take design risks in pursuit of a standout product. At Unbox, we believe breakthroughs begin when we challenge the instinct to conform. That’s why UHUE was designed to be different. Read more in our Re/Form blog. 

To carry the conversation that night, we set up an interactive “Re/Form” mindmap, where visitors could respond to questions around sustainability, AI, ethics, and creativity in design.

The whiteboard sparked conversations on how designers can drive long-term change, and it was a space for reflection and discussions around this topic.

Sharing Our Work

Throughout the evening, our team walked visitors through some of our recent work, including:

CO.8 (formerly UHUE): An all-in-one custom makeup device that allows users to create their own liquid makeup by adjusting color, coverage, finish, and shimmer. With over 18 international design and innovation awards, CO.8 sparked fascination among attendees. Many were eager to learn more about the concept and the design process behind the device’s creation.

CO.8 Custom Cosmetic Creator

M1 Monstatek: A forward-thinking device that explores the intersection of tech and lifestyle design. Engineered for hackers, makers, and digital explorers, the Monstatek LLC M1 is a compact yet powerful tool that combines signal analysis, wireless protocol manipulation, and advanced emulation features.

Monstatek M1

Given San Francisco’s vibrant tech scene, many attendees from startups and tech companies were already familiar with this type of product and curious to hear our take on its design.

Each project reflects our commitment to bold, user-driven innovation and our belief that form should be just as thoughtful as function.

Building Community

We’re proud to have hosted a night that brought together people from across disciplines, backgrounds, and industries. Whether it was students meeting mentors, first-time visitors making new connections, or old friends reconnecting over shared ideas, the night was filled with meaningful conversations.

It was a moment that reflected the values we hold close: collaboration, craftsmanship, and compassion.

We are already looking ahead to SF Design Week 2026!