About Us

Deap Design was founded in 2007 by husband-and-wife industrial designers Erich & Anna-Pia Slothower. A dynamic and creative partnership, Erich is a Colorado native, while Anna-Pia grew up in Sweden and started her career in Paris, France. After meeting at Kohler Co in Wisconsin, where they both worked as part of the in-house design team, they moved to California in 2000 to work with Palm Inc. and Williams-Sonoma Inc, among other companies. They eventually ended up in Sausalito where they now run an industrial design and furniture concept studio together.

Juxtaposing the Future and the Familiar: “We are highly curious and love a good challenge – the more difficult  the problem the better. We want our designs to appear bold and simple at the same time, reflecting the future with a fresh twist on something familiar.” Material research, understanding the latest advancement in manufacturing processes, sustainable choices and cultural trends are all part of what drives our projects and ideas.

Anna-Pia Slothower grew up on the west coast of Sweden and moved to Paris at the age of 19 to attend design school. After graduating, she began her professional career as an in-house designer at Jacob Delafon. From Paris, she moved further west, via Kohler Wisconsin on to Palm Inc. in California, then Gingko Design in San Francisco, before starting Deap Design in Sausalito. Her work spans from large collections of faucets and fixtures to housewares, consumer products and innovative and award-winning furniture pieces.

Erich Slothower grew up with a maker’s mind at an early age as a way to get the things he wanted; making an electric guitar, bedroom furniture and rebuilding his first car. After design school, Erich started his career with a toy company in Sausalito. He soon moved to the Midwest and joined the ID team at Kohler Co. Six years later, he joined Kallista as their first in-house designer and lead the product development of several large collections, collaborating with A-list interior designers and developed plumbing products with factories in Italy, Normandie, Portugal, England and the US. Moving offices to the Bay Area, he eventually joined the design team at Williams-Sonoma where he developed dinnerware and kitchen tools, working again with factories in England and Europe.

Since starting Deap Design, the focus has been on driving the designs for numerous kitchen and bath projects, along with design strategies for start-ups and other tech firms, such as Glowforge, Sling Studio, Jiawei and Kuna.