What Thing Tank does

Thing Tank was a San Francisco-based product design consultancy founded in 2005 by Chris Luomanen, a former IDEO designer with a master's degree in product design from Stanford University. The studio delivered design research, experience prototyping, industrial design, design strategy, workshop facilitation, and communication design services to both large enterprises and early-stage startups, applying an iterative, prototype-driven process that used research to inform design at every stage. Notable clients included Chick-fil-A, Westfield, Steelcase, Plantronics, Facebook, 3form, Oglesby & Butler, Peloton Technology, Molekule, the Long-Term Stock Exchange, Ono Foods, Nuko Toys, and Design Within Reach. Work frequently extended into co-development with partner firms such as IDEO, Frog, Point Forward, Speck, and Kelton, as well as specialized collaborators including Pfeifferlab (sustainable materials) and Sequitur Creative (brand identity).

The studio generated revenue primarily through project-based B2B professional services engagements acquired via direct sales, design-firm referrals, and incubator relationships (notably Chris Luomanen's mentor role at the Highway 1 Hardware Accelerator). Thing Tank's commercial footprint included both one-off enterprise commissions and longer startup engagements, with select client work yielding measurable outcomes—for example, the Wispr vaporizer outsold the incumbent IOLITE from day one, and the e2e sustainable contract furniture suite won Best of NeoCon 2012. The studio also produced patentable industrial design IP, including a registered eccentric adjustment mechanism for the Slide door system and proprietary features for 3form architectural hardware.

The studio is no longer actively operating. According to its contact page, 'The studio is currently closed, while we pursue other opportunities.' This status, last confirmed around 2020, signals a wind-down rather than a pivot, and there is no evidence of external funding, acquisition, or successor entity.

Name

Thing Tank

Legal name

Thing Tank

Website

https://thing-tank.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Thing Tank is a San Francisco-based product design consultancy founded in 2005 by former IDEO designer Chris Luomanen, offering design research, prototyping, industrial design, and workshop facilitation to enterprises and startups. The studio is now closed.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

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, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Design Consultancy Services: Thing Tank generates revenue through design research, experience prototyping, industrial design, design strategy, workshop facilitation, and communication design services for enterprise clients and startups.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Thing Tank is a boutique design consultancy offering design research, experience prototyping, industrial design, design strategy, workshop facilitation, and communication design services. Engagements are project-based, delivered through direct client work and collaborations with peer design firms such as IDEO, Frog, Point Forward, Speck, and Kelton, serving both large enterprises and startups.

Product overview

Thing Tank is a design consultancy offering a unified suite of services rather than a product platform. Their core offerings include Design Research, Experience Prototyping, Industrial Design, Design Strategy, Workshop Facilitation, and Communication Design. These services are delivered through collaborative client engagements across diverse industries including consumer electronics, financial services, furniture, vehicle automation, retail environments, social media, architectural hardware, education, and food service. The consultancy maintains a network of creative professionals and frequently teams with internal client teams and other design firms including IDEO, Frog, Point Forward, Speck, and Kelton.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Wispr vaporizer outsold the market-leading IOLITE from day one
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• IDEOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThing Tank founder Chris Luomanen previously worked at IDEO before founding Thing Tank in 2005. IDEO is referenced as a collaborative design firm partner for client projects.
• Frog DesignminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrog Design is listed as a collaborative design firm partner for client engagements.
• Point ForwardminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPoint Forward is listed as a collaborative design firm partner for joint project work.
• SpeckminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpeck is listed as a collaborative design firm partner for design projects.
• KeltonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKelton is listed as a collaborative design firm partner for design engagements.
• PfeifferlabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThing Tank collaborated with Pfeifferlab on developing the e2e contract furniture suite that expresses the distinctive properties of the sustainable soy flour and plant fiber material.
• Sequitur CreativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThing Tank partnered with Sequitur Creative (brand/identity partners) to help Oglesby & Butler reinvent their vaporizer category with the Wispr product.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Direct peers

• IDEO: Global design consultancy where Thing Tank's founder previously worked and with which Thing Tank still collaborates on client projects. Same human-centered design research and prototyping model, same enterprise and startup client mix.
• Lunar Design: Bay Area industrial design studio working across consumer electronics, furniture, and hardware startups — directly overlapping with Thing Tank's Steelcase, Molekule, Plantronics-type engagements.
• Frog Design: Industrial and digital design consultancy explicitly listed as a Thing Tank collaborative partner. Competes for the same enterprise design-research and product-development engagements.
• Whipsaw: Silicon Valley industrial design and engineering consultancy serving hardware startups and enterprises — directly comparable to Thing Tank's Molekule, Peloton, Kiba-type hardware engagements.
• RKS Design: Research-driven industrial design consultancy applying human factors and design research to consumer products, overlapping with Thing Tank's design-research and experience-prototyping services.
• Smart Design: Independent product design consultancy with a comparable mix of enterprise consumer-product clients (Steelcase-adjacent, consumer electronics, retail). Mirrors Thing Tank's research-to-prototype-to-industrial-design workflow.
• NewDealDesign: San Francisco-based product design studio with adjacent expertise in hardware startups, robotics, and consumer electronics — directly comparable client base and project mix.
• fuseproject: Yves Béhar's industrial design and brand firm operating on the same startup-to-enterprise spectrum (Jawbone, Peloton-class clients) as Thing Tank.
• Ammunition Group: Product and brand design firm that combines industrial design with brand strategy; comparable to Thing Tank's integrated industrial-design-plus-communication-design offering.

Broad incumbents

• Designworks (BMW Group): In-house design consultancy of BMW Group serving transportation, consumer, and industrial clients at a much larger scale; represents the corporate/incumbent tier that Thing Tank competes against for enterprise transformation mandates.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

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 Thing Tank