About Us

We founded Weber Workshops because of a common desire to build products that are intelligently designed and meticulously crafted; daily instruments that make the daily process easier and the quality better; tools artists use to drive the art forward.

We set out to build products that aren’t measured in fleeting annual revisions but in lasting human generations; machines as reliable and steadfast as the day they are made; heirlooms families cherish as they are lovingly handed down.

We build products that inspire.

We based our company on these values. The creative diversity and well-storied backgrounds of the founders and board members reflect these beliefs. We are artists, engineers, dreamers and madmen. Through this lens we look at things differently, often with a critical eye on how and what we canimprove, or when we might need to start over and come up with something entirely new.

- Douglas Weber

Douglas Weber - Founder

A native son of Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley, Douglas was born and raised in the Los Angeles County City of Arcadia. From the outset, he pursued a career in design and engineering, graduating from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Stanford University.

Douglas' first job at Apple was as one of the original members of the iPod Product Design team, the same team that went on to create future generations of the iPod, iPhone, and most recently Apple Watch. During the development of the first iPhone, Douglas was tasked withintegrating the glass display face into the product, a late-in-the-game decision that sparked an entire new sub-industry in smartphone cover technology.

During this time a unique opportunity arose for Douglas to move to Asia and found a multinational team focused on advanced materials and innovative manufacturing technologies. Over the course of eight years he grew his team to 15 material scientists and product designersspread throughout Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The result of his work at Apple is an extensive patent portfolio, dozens of strategic vendor relationships, and several core technologies that Apple uses throughout its product line to this day.

And with time comes change. With a long-term love of coffee, appreciation of good design and solid engineering, in 2014 Douglas took leave of Apple to found Weber Workshops to enter the next phase of his career. As a full time resident of Japan and with close proximity toglobal manufacturers, Douglas is able to develop products in real-time together with the factory personnel. At WW, Douglas utilizes his strategic relationships with the most innovative manufacturers in the world to make inimitable products that are designed to last.

Daniele De Iuliis - Board Member

Having spent his formative years in Italy and England, Daniele completed his degree in Industrial Design at the Central School of Art and Design in London. After graduating, he headed to California to join ID Two in San Francisco (now part of IDEO). His consulting experienceexpanded to New York where he worked until joining the Industrial Design Team at Apple in 1991.

Daniele flourished and then finished his 27-year contribution to Apple's world class design team in 2018, leaving behind a legacy of products that helped change the consumer electronics world forever.

The early morning sound of a hand mill grinding fresh beans was his childhood initiation to the world of coffee, and to this day it is still a part of his life. The numerous debates over cappuccinos he and Douglas shared at Apple about coffee machines helped to inspire theformation of WW.

Matthew Rohrbach - Board Member

Anative of Washington State, Matt graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, which known for its rigorous Industrial Design program. He gained experience working at design studios in Los Angeles and then moved to San Francisco to work for IDEO and then anengineering designstartup. From there Matt was recruited into the small and tightly knit Apple Industrial Design Team right around when the first iMac was introduced.

Over the next 17 years Matt had the privilege of being part of the Design team that has brought us so many groundbreaking and well loved products.

In May of 2015 Matt took leave of Apple to pursue his own interests and passion for making things. At home near and on the water and snow, he now splits his time between San Francisco and Iceland. A long-time coffee lover and craftsman, WW is proud to have Matt share both hisknowledge and experience with our board.

Hidenori Izaki - Board Member

Most people in the coffee world now know Hide as the 2014 World Barista Champion. We know Hide as the eldest son of the Honey Coffee family, who chose to carve his own path in the coffee world at another prominent roastery in Japan -- Maruyama Coffee.

We remember Hide from before he took his title, when he was still a modest fledgling barista, and would come to pull shots on the lever machine in Douglas' kitchen. He took it upon himself to learn everything he could about the industry, the machines, the process, the beans, andfarms that grow the beans his family roasts. He mastered each step, took the Barista Champion title, and founded his own coffee consulting company -- Samurai Coffee Experience and Qahwa. We've had our eyes on Hide for a while now, and are proud to welcome him to the WWfamily.

Shin Suzuki- Board Member

Shin boasts one of the most prolific photographer careers in Japan as a well-known and extremely sought after portrait specialist. His talents go way beyond portraits and Kirin advertisements, and when he started getting into coffee in 2018 he quickly came across Douglas andthe WW team.