Uncorked Studios

What Uncorked Studios does

Uncorked Studios is a strategic product design studio founded around 2010 in Portland, Oregon, focused on building products and experiences that connect physical and digital worlds using emerging technologies including VR, wearables, and autonomous vehicles. The firm operated as a boutique consultancy serving enterprise brands, with publicly named clients including Nike, Google, Facebook, and the New York Times, and project areas spanning industrial autonomous vehicles, educational AI products, gen-Z co-creation, augmented reality retail, and AI/privacy/usability camera concepts. Co-founded by Marcelino Alvarez (CEO) and John Furukawa (COO), the studio ran on a project-based professional services model with headcount in the 11-50 range and pricing that was not publicly disclosed.

On November 5, 2019, Fresh Consulting acquired Uncorked Studios, converting it into Fresh Consulting's Portland office and ending Uncorked's independent operations. The deal brought Fresh's software, hardware, and robotics delivery capabilities together with Uncorked's strategy and emerging-technology design expertise; Alvarez moved into a Chief Product Officer role developing innovation programs for emerging-tech commercialization, and Furukawa became Managing Director of Fresh Portland. As an independent company, Uncorked had no disclosed institutional investors, no public listing, and no recorded funding rounds; its revenue was never publicly disclosed.

Name

Uncorked Studios

Legal name

Uncorked Studios

Website

https://uncorkedstudios.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Uncorked Studios was a Portland-based strategic product design studio that built products and experiences using emerging technologies such as VR, wearables, and autonomous vehicles for enterprise brands including Nike, Google, Facebook, and the New York Times.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Product Design Services

akta.pro primary industry

Content Studio & Creative Resourcing (In-house/Embedded Teams) (BPAFAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Co-Development, Porting & Remaster Studios (MPAFAAAM), Integrated Full-Service Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAA)

Keywords

• Product design services
• Emerging technology consulting
• Product strategy consulting
• Industrial design studio
• User experience design

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Core offering

Uncorked Studios is a strategic product design studio that partners with enterprise brands to build products and experiences using emerging technologies such as VR, wearables, and autonomous vehicles. The firm integrates product strategy, industrial design, and emerging-technology commercialization into project-based engagements for clients including Nike, Google, Facebook, and the New York Times.

Product overview

Uncorked Studios is a nine-year-old strategic product design studio focused on building products and experiences using emerging technologies. The company provides product strategy and design services, working across VR, wearables, and autonomous vehicles to connect the physical and digital worlds. Notable project areas include industrial autonomous vehicles, educational AI products, gen-Z co-creation initiatives, augmented reality retail experiences, and camera concepts bridging AI, privacy, and usability.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Product Design Services

Named customers4 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Fresh ConsultingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 November 2019Fresh Consulting acquired Uncorked Studios on November 5, 2019. Uncorked became Fresh Consulting's Portland office. Co-founder Marcelino Alvarez took on Chief Product Officer role developing innovation programs for emerging technology commercialization. COO John Furukawa became Managing Director of Fresh Portland. The acquisition expanded Fresh's strategy, design, software, and hardware capabilities.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• IDEO: Global design and innovation consultancy offering strategic product design, prototyping, and emerging-technology services to Fortune 500 brands — directly comparable to Uncorked's studio model, customer profile, and emerging-tech focus.
• frog (formerly Frog Design): Product design and innovation firm delivering strategy, design, and technology services across hardware and digital products for global enterprises — overlapping with Uncorked on emerging-tech product work and enterprise customer base.
• Huge: Design and innovation agency providing strategy, experience design, and product development for large brands and technology companies — directly comparable to Uncorked's integrated creative-services offering and enterprise clientele.
• Smart Design: Independent product design and innovation consultancy serving enterprise clients across consumer electronics, healthcare, and emerging categories — closely aligned with Uncorked's strategic product design and emerging-tech positioning.
• Lunar Design: Boutique product design and strategy firm focused on consumer and emerging-technology products for global brands — a comparable boutique studio to Uncorked with similar client type and product-design orientation.
• Cooper (design consultancy): Design strategy and product innovation consultancy working with enterprise clients on customer experience, digital products, and brand-driven innovation — analogous to Uncorked's strategic product design and emerging-tech services.
• RKS Design: Psyche-driven product design and innovation firm delivering strategy, design research, and emerging-tech product development to enterprise clients — closely comparable to Uncorked's studio model and customer base.
• fuseproject: Independent design and branding studio specializing in product design, emerging technology, and brand strategy for global companies — comparable boutique studio model with overlapping emerging-tech and enterprise focus.
• Ammunition Group: Independent design and innovation studio offering product, brand, and experience design services to consumer-technology clients — comparable boutique studio serving similar enterprise customers with similar services.

Broad incumbents

• Method (GlobalLogic): Design-led digital product and engineering consultancy, now part of GlobalLogic, providing integrated strategy, design, and software services to enterprise clients — a broader incumbent that competes with Uncorked across the full product-design-to-engineering stack.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/uncorkedstudios
• Facebookfacebook.com/uncorkedstudiospdx
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uncorked-studios

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Uncorked Studios