House of van Schneider

What House of van Schneider does

House of van Schneider (HOVS) is a boutique creative studio founded in 2000 by Tobias van Schneider and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The studio operates a dual business model, combining bespoke brand identity, product design, and creative direction services for a select roster of high-profile clients (notably NASA/JPL, where HOVS designed the branding for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and the Europa Clipper mission) with co-founded subscription digital products serving the creative community. HOVS has historically operated with a small team of 1-10 employees, centered on Tobias van Schneider's individual reputation and network.

HOVS's product portfolio comprises three co-founded digital platforms. Semplice, launched in 2014, is a portfolio system used by leading designers representing brands such as BBDO, Disney, and Apple. Carbonmade, which Tobias joined as a partner in 2018, has helped more than 2 million creatives build online portfolios since its founding in 2005. mymind is an AI-enhanced personal knowledge management tool that uses artificial intelligence to visually organize user-saved text, images, and other online content. The studio also operates the DESK online magazine and newsletter, which reaches hundreds of thousands of designers and creators monthly and over 30,000 newsletter subscribers.

HOVS generates revenue through two primary streams: project-based professional services for enterprise and government clients such as NASA/JPL, and recurring subscription revenue from its owned product companies (Semplice, Carbonmade, mymind). Distribution combines direct client engagement for studio work (via [email protected]) with self-serve signup flows for product companies on their own websites. Audience development runs through the DESK newsletter, the NTMY podcast, social channels (Instagram, Twitter/X, Dribbble), and speaking or jury appearances at industry venues including Cannes Lions, Awwwards, FWA, and the Art Directors Club. The company is structured as a private LLC, is bootstrapped, and has no disclosed institutional funding.

Name

House of van Schneider

Legal name

House of van Schneider LLC

Website

https://vanschneider.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

House of van Schneider is a Brooklyn-based boutique creative studio founded by Tobias van Schneider that provides brand identity and product design services to select clients including NASA/JPL, and operates subscription creative tools (Semplice, Carbonmade, mymind) for designers and creatives.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Creative Studio Services: Boutique creative studio providing brand identity, product design, and web design services to select clients including NASA/JPL, with projects such as Mars 2020 Perseverance rover branding and Europa Clipper mission identity.
2. Product Companies (Semplice, Carbonmade, mymind): Co-founded product companies serving the creative community: Semplice (portfolio system for designers), Carbonmade (portfolio hosting for creatives), and mymind (AI-enhanced personal knowledge management). These products generate subscription/recurring revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

House of van Schneider is a boutique creative studio that provides brand identity design, product design, and digital experience design services to select enterprise clients including NASA/JPL for space mission branding. The studio also builds and operates its own independent software products — Semplice (portfolio system for designers), Carbonmade (online portfolio hosting), and mymind (AI-enhanced personal knowledge management) — serving the creative community with recurring subscription-based offerings.

Product overview

House of van Schneider (HOVS) is a boutique creative studio operated by Tobias van Schneider that operates both as a creative agency and product company. The portfolio consists of three main co-founded products: mymind™ (AI-powered personal knowledge management), Semplice™ (portfolio system for designers), and Carbonmade® (online portfolio builder). These products serve the creative community and are complemented by DESK Magazine, a content platform reaching hundreds of thousands of readers. The studio is also known for high-profile client work including NASA branding for the Mars 2020 and Europa Clipper missions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DESK: Online magazine/newsletter reaching hundreds of thousands of designers and creators each month, covering design and productivity topics
• Three Rooms

Products and services

• House of van Schneider (HOVS) Studio Services Boutique creative studio providing bespoke brand identity design, product design, and digital experience design services to enterprise clients including NASA/JPL (Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and Europa Clipper mission branding).
• Semplice A modern portfolio system and creative community for the world's leading designers, allowing custom portfolio websites to be built from scratch with an evolving set of tools and a website backend.
• Carbonmade Online portfolio hosting platform that has helped more than 2 million creative professionals — photographers, makeup artists, designers, illustrators, and other creatives — build and host portfolio websites.
• mymind AI-enhanced personal knowledge management tool that serves as a private, visual place to save everything users care about online, with AI-powered organization that adapts to the user's mind and workflow.
• DESK Magazine / Newsletter Online magazine and weekly newsletter covering design, productivity, self-improvement, and creative career topics, reaching 30,000+ newsletter subscribers and hundreds of thousands of monthly readers.

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core, notable and minor.

• NASA/JPLflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2020NASA's studio of choice for branding space missions. HOVS designed the logo for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, working to create a symbol capturing the energy and legacy of space travel. Subsequently commissioned for the Europa Clipper mission branding, designing a logo reflecting the clipper's orbit of Jupiter, traveling 1.8 billion miles into space.
• SemplicecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded portfolio system serving the world's leading designers. Since launch in 2014, Semplice has attracted top creative talent representing brands such as BBDO, Disney, Apple and many more. HOVS founder responsible for creative direction, product design, branding and marketing.
• CarbonmadecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded portfolio hosting platform helping more than 2 million creatives launch their online portfolio since 2005. HOVS founder joined as partner in 2018, led complete redesign and rebrand, now manages product design and identity.
• mymindcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAI-enhanced extension for the mind, co-founded by HOVS founder. Built with beautiful design, strong focus on privacy and unconventional approach to organization. Created for creative people and independent thinkers seeking a peaceful escape from internet chaos. Grew into a passionate community of supporting members.
• MemominotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisor and creative director role. memomi created the world's first digital mirror software platform called Memory Mirror. HOVS oversaw user experience, brand creative and product design. Launched with partners Intel, IBM, Sony and Panasonic, now appears in high-end stores like Neiman Marcus. Successfully acquired by Walmart in 2022.
• oneYedeer (Seba Achaval)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on custom BMW motorcycle project 'Escape Machine.' Seba built the custom BMW R100R retro-futuristic motorcycle with HOVS creative direction. Combined Mercedes-Benz aesthetic elements with BMW mechanics.
• Myth Motors (Matias Corea)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEngine rebuild and maintenance for custom motorcycle project. Expertise with airhead BMW engines proved invaluable for the Escape Machine build.
• JesperishminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArtist commissioned to create three pieces of artwork incorporating the HOVS identity for the 'Three Rooms' digital art gallery project. Artworks rendered at 10,000 pixel resolution within rooms designed at 40,000 pixel resolution.
• BeardbrandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on custom beard oil product, formulated and designed by HOVS.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• MetaLab: MetaLab is a design and product studio that combines bespoke agency engagements with its own product businesses (e.g., Flowdash), making it one of the closest analogues to HOVS' services-plus-product model and target audience of large consumer brands.
• Instrument: Instrument is a design and product studio serving enterprise and consumer brands, known for high-profile brand identity work and shipping its own software products — directly comparable to HOVS' dual track of agency work and owned SaaS products.
• Manual: Manual is a creative studio that provides brand strategy, design, and product work to technology-forward companies, sharing HOVS' positioning as a small, premium studio with a strong point of view.
• Fantasy: Fantasy is a creative technology and design studio that builds brand experiences and digital products, with similar scale and selective high-prestige client work to HOVS.
• Cargo Collective: Cargo Collective is an online portfolio platform for designers and creative professionals, directly comparable to Semplice and Carbonmade in target customer (creatives) and core product (custom portfolio websites).

Broad incumbents

• IDEO: IDEO is the canonical large design and innovation firm with a much broader service portfolio and larger teams; relevant as a broad incumbent operating in the same 'specialized design services' space as HOVS.
• Pentagram: Pentagram is one of the world's largest independent design studios with partners across multiple disciplines; its brand identity practice overlaps directly with HOVS' NASA and enterprise branding work.
• Behance: Behance (owned by Adobe) is a leading online portfolio platform serving millions of creatives, and is the most direct large-scale competitor to Carbonmade and Semplice in the 'portfolio for designers' category.

Emerging players

• Are.na: Are.na is a visual research and knowledge management platform with a strong design community focus, directly comparable to mymind's positioning as a private, AI-assisted space to save and organize digital content.
• Readwise: Readwise is a subscription knowledge management tool for saving, reviewing, and organizing highlights from books and articles; relevant as a comparable recurring-revenue consumer knowledge tool to mymind.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/vanschneider
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/tobiasvanschneider
• Instagraminstagram.com/vanschneider
• Facebookfacebook.com/artdirection

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 House of van Schneider