Nate Grubbs is generally a nice guy.
Hello, I’m Nate Grubbs.
I show up where the problem is genuinely hard — where the gap between what gets decided in a room and what ends up in someone's hands actually matters. I've designed interfaces for astronauts, helped Starbucks standardise workflows across 18,000 stores, and built the product vision for a startup that made history as the first company to transmit Bluetooth data to a satellite. Right now I'm at Amazon, working on the future of Echo devices and AI experiences.
My Irish wife Claire keeps me humble and joyful. Together we're raising two little girls — and thinking seriously about what responsible technology looks like for the children growing up in our home. That question has become as personal as it is professional.
Give me a moment and I'll tell you about a book I'm reading or the vinyl I've been putting on. I collect those, along with useful (and useless) facts and the occasional dad joke.
N. Carolina
My creativity was born in North Carolina. School gave me a BFA in Graphic Design and a BS in Industrial Technology — a combination that turned out to be more useful than I expected. The industrial side taught me to think about how things actually get made, not just how they should look. I first found my way into photography under Byron Baldwin, whose students have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Portland
Portland kept me weird. I moved northwest in 2004 to join Razorfish — a moment when the internet was still inventing its own rules and creative ambition was the primary constraint. Three years later, a photography project with an NGO in East Africa sent me freelance. Portland made me comfortable making things without a complete map.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam honed my directness. Six years of freelancing with Philips and frog, then joining Handmade (a small product invention lab) where I worked on connected experiences for Albert Heijn and IKEA, and spent time at Logitech's Lausanne HQ researching what children’s play could look like when physical objects and digital experiences work together honestly.
(house photo on this page was my home – 100 years before I lived there.)
Seattle
Seattle sharpened my pragmatism. Teague and Tactile brought mission-critical work — the UI framework for Axiom Space Station, and the Starbucks Pro design system, which won a 2023 IDEA Silver Award. Then Hubble Network, where as sole designer I crafted a platform for a company that made history as the first to transmit Bluetooth data to a satellite. Now I'm on Amazon's Echo Devices team, working on what comes next.
I’ve partnered with these companies:
