KAMBIZ HEMATI
Principal, Imaginari Design | kambiz@imaginari.com

Kambiz studied Architecture in Europe & the United States. He graduated from the Southern California Institute of Architecture/SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, studied Graphic & Web Design at UCLA, Computer Aided Design/CAD at Pratt Institute in New York, and studied Art Direction while completing the Digital Filmmaking program at the Los Angeles Film School.

His experience in Architecture & Design includes over fifty retail, showroom & corporate office projects for FILA Sport in the US, France & Italy; corporate design & project management for General Electric; and the renovation of the Plaza Hotel in New York. He also served as Retail Design Consultant to the NASA/Kennedy Visitor Center's Spaceshop in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

In 1993, Kambiz founded Imaginari Design in New York City, and later relocated his studio to Los Angeles. Between 1993 & 1998, he designed & managed the construction for FILA Sport of several Flagship Boutiques, Retail Outlet Stores, and In-Store Shops within major Departement Stores. His design for the Flagship Store in San Francisco, became the prototype for all Retail Stores in Japan, Singapore & Korea. He also designed the Flagship Store in Paris/France and Milan/Italy. In 2001, he completed the launch of the SOCO Paris/LVMH Group stores in the US, where he was in charge of Retail Design & Graphic Communication. The first store -with a new SOCO brand image for the American market- opened in 1999 in Manhattan, and seven more locations were added nationwide (2000-2001). The e-commerce site SOCOshop.com was launched under his design management, and Imaginari produced all in-store graphics.

Currently, Kambiz is completing the design of several residential projects in the Los Angeles area, and a new prototype store for a European Designer. In 2004, Imaginari also completed the design of an exhibition booth for "Jana Feifer Los Angeles" built for the Accessories Show in NYC, and completed various graphics projects for the handbag designer.

His Retail Design work was published in CONTRACT, OFFRAMP and VALUE RETAIL NEWS magazines, and his architectural drawings were exhibited at various galleries in Switzerland & in New York City. The Outlet store prototype for FILA Sport is included in LIFESTYLE STORES, a retail design book published by PBC. The FILA Flagship Store in San Francisco was published in STORES: RETAIL DISPLAY AND DESIGN, a book covering avant-garde display and merchandising techniques. Kambiz was granted US PATENT No. 376,058 for a "Product Display Holder", an innovative retail merchandising system originaly developped for FILA Sport.

Kambiz has also been active as a Production Designer on several short films, commercials & music videos. One of the films he designed was screened at the Malibu, Reno, Newport Beach & Salento (Italy) Film Festivals, where it won First Place in the Short Film category. He also completed the design of his first feature film in 2003, and is currently working with several directors in active pre-production. Since March 2003, he also has taught several courses at the Los Angeles Film School: Drafting for Set Designers I + II and Production Design I.

Kambiz grew up in Switzerland -where he attended boarding school- and is fluent in three languages in addition to his native French. A US citizen, he is member of the American Center for Design, The Institute of Store Planners, IFP/LA & the Film Expat Group.