Airbnb co-founder and CPO Joe Gebbia, today announced the creation of Samara, a multidisciplinary innovation and design studio within Airbnb. Conceived with the support of co-founders Brian Chesky and Nathan Blecharczyk, Samara will bring together design and engineering experts from Airbnb to create new ideas and build new services that support the Airbnb community.
As a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Gebbia has always been impassioned by design and its power to reimagine the future. Inspired by the tenacious and hearty Samara seedling, the mission of this new design studio is to explore services and ideas that are consistent with Airbnb’s values and vision. With experts from a range of backgrounds, Samara will explore architecture, product design, software engineering, and new economic models.
“Samara is all about generating new ideas and building products that serve the Airbnb community,” said Gebbia. “Samara will give us even more space to apply what we’ve learned over the last eight years and create new services for connection, commerce, and social change within the expanding Airbnb community.”
