biography

Timeline

1964 – Born in chilly Plattsburg, New York to Floyd (Bud) and Arlene Harvey.

1966 – Move to Ramstein, Germany and can’t understand a word people are saying.

1967 – Get my first bag of Lego blocks and launch my design career.

1968 – Return to the United States and meet some of my extended family… Whoa!

1970 – Back to Europe, England this time and still can’t understand a thing people are saying.

1971 – Overtaken by my first love, Football (Soccer in some parts of the world).

1972 – Find that I am the only kid in first grade that can use a spray paint can.

1975 – First architectural success, tree house, is completed on time and within budget.

1978 – Design and fabrication of first furniture piece (Aquarium stand for my brother).

1980 – Graduate from English high school, pass college entry exams, I am on my way!

1980 – Arrive in Arizona and start high school over again… bummer, I am not on my way.

1981 – Though I couldn’t spell it, I discover and fall in love with the world of Architecture.

1983 – Win a college architectural design competition and internship with local architectural firm.

1983 – Graduate high school for the second time, I am on my way again… YES!

1984 – Turn my internship into full-time position and launch my professional career (okay, so I skipped college).

1984 – Design first custom home (Scary for client, I look about 14).

1985 – Build my first awarding winning show car, a 72 VW Square Back (hey, it’s a Euro thing…)

1985 – Career shift, I start building show cars full time (what the heck, I’m still young).

1986 – Join Orion as product/fixture designer and you guessed it, show car builder.

1995 – Career shift redux, start my own design agency, AYCH (H for Harvey, very clever) Visual Organization.

2000 – Join Winntech as Creative Director after a ridiculously good offer from the founder.

2001 – Start string of published and award winning design work.

2006 – Join renowned agency Fitch. Design their office featuring a vintage Double Decker bus (Rodney loved it).

2008 – Enticed to re-join Winntech as Director of their Middle-East office in Bahrain… Keefak, Habibi?

2012 – My passion for leadership has me “Wisdomizing” (consulting) in Canada, Mexico and all over the United States!

2015 – Hola, Amigos… helping two clients in Mexico City, still not drinking the water though.

2017 – Join Norcon working two miles from home…. Yes!!

2023 – Renovating 1972 Airstream Argosy because I can. To be continued….

 

Biography

Brian was born on February 14, 1964 at an Air Force hospital in Plattsburg, New York. At the age of two he moved to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. After four years there he returned to the U.S. for a brief stay in Norfolk, Virginia before heading back to Europe, this time to Lakenheath Air Force Base in Suffolk, England.

Upon his arrival in 1970 Brian quickly fell in love with Football (Soccer) and continues to play, coach and follow the game to this day. He excelled in the sport and played for 10 years at the School, Town and County levels. Brian was known for his focus, enthusiasm and most of all his passion, which would later play a huge part in his business career.

Though Football was his main focus, another talent was emerging, his eye for design and his intelligence around problem solving and assembly. Brian showed promise at a very early age with his ability to visualize a concept and then use any number of media to realize it. Whether it was using Lego’s, Linking Logs or something as simple as wooden match sticks, Brian’s talent and creativity was becoming apparent.

Brian’s father, Floyd (Bud) Harvey, was his mentor and was an exceptional mechanic and craftsman. He taught Brian how to use tools and often worked with him on home improvement projects and car repairs. Brian recalls as far back as being small enough to bed down in a rolling tool box while his father and friends built engines and race cars.

From the beginning of his schooling, Brian was quickly recognized for his ability to complete art and craft projects at a level well beyond his peers. His teachers were astounded at his knowledge of tools and assembly techniques, and from the 1^st Grade on they had him helping his classmates with their projects because he would often finish his work early.

As Brian progressed on to higher grade levels he excelled in all things creative such as:, art, wood shop, metal shop and technical drawing. During his final year in England, he passed his college entrance exam in Mechanical drawing and would have entered college the following year if not for his father’s retirement from the Air Force which involved the family’s pending return to his native country.

Brian returned to the United States in September of 1980 and quickly found what would turn out to be a State Championship winning soccer team to play for, and a new love of show cars. Both would prove to be helpful in his transition back to life as an American, and a factor in his future career path.

Upon his arrival in Arizona Brian had to attend high school again to achieve his American High School diploma. Because Brian had already graduated from a British High School there was a lot of the course work in the American school system that he had already completed such as Mechanical drafting… Brian recalls telling his Drafting teacher “I know everything in the book” and was asked to take a test to prove it. Passing with an A+ the teacher suggested Architecture which Brian jumped on with both feet.

After two years of high school architecture Brian was encouraged to enter a college level design competition and was Awarded 1^st place for his restaurant design work and another award for a scale model of a residence he had designed his junior year. At that competition, Brian was approached by a local architectural firm and offered a paid internship which he accepted while still attending high school. After a year of working part time in the firm, at 19, he was offered a full time position and began his career designing custom homes.

With his architectural career blossoming, Brian continued to enjoy his passion for building custom cars and had now completed a number of award winning vehicles that included Volkswagens and Mini Trucks. He also helped a number of friends achieve their dream by working on their cars as well in a “Body Shop” he designed and built in his Father’s back yard, which housed a professional paint booth.

His passion for custom cars and the formation of a successful car club lead him to the decision to build show cars full time. Within a year Brian had become well known on the show circuit won a National Championship trophy, and the attention of Orion Industries, a car audio technology manufacturer. Orion offered him a position as product developer. This position involved the industrial design of their technology products in addition to designing and building the organizations show vehicles and tradeshow exhibits. Brian worked in the car audio industry for 7 years designing products for a number of top brands such as Jenson, Blauplunkt, Kicker, Coustic, and Precision Power.

Inevitably the retail design world called his name; he was approached by a young entrepreneur named Barrett Prelogar who had founded a technology company, Winntech Digital Systems. Barrett envisioned the potential for technology in retailing and needed an enthusiastic young designer to help him make a powerful statement in the world of retailing.

Together they quickly became a force to be reckoned with in the retail design world, being recognized for their integrated design solutions. An early success was the “Scorpion”, a “Sit-in” demonstrator for the newly burgeoning in-car entertainment industry. They had found a niche in introducing a “New Way” to retail through the use of computers and the Internet, an industry in its infancy at the time. Because they were the first out of the gate, their work was and continues to be ground breaking in the retail world.

Over the past 18 years Brian has continued a relationship with Winntech and other award winning design agencies’ such as: Fitch and Kendall King. He has worked with a vast number of well known national and multi-national retailing organizations including Sears, Craftsman, RadioShack, Sirius Satellite Radio, Sam’s Club, Bed Bath & Beyond, Lowes, Time Warner Cable, Sean John, Quiznos and Smashburger.

For three years Brian worked in the Middle-East and Mexico doing projects for regional banks and national retailers including Doha Bank (Qatar), Boubian Bank (Kuwait), ProntoWash (Kuwait) Zonik (Saudi Arabia), Z Man/ReThobe (Saudi Arabia) and Exhale a local beach apparel retailer in Dubai. His work in Mexico includes, Banco Azteca and Elektra, the largest retailer in Latin America.

Brian has won architecture and design awards for his work in exhibit, retail and restaurant design. His work has been featured in numerous national design magazines and published in several design books. His favorite project is a 20,000 s.f. office space he designed for Fitch, a world renowned multi-national design firm. The project featured a 1960’s Double Decker London bus that Brian restored and installed in the lobby. The bus was used as a meeting room below and employee lounge on the upper deck.

His greatest accolade was having his work recognized as the “Best Tradeshow Exhibit in the past 20 years” for an installation of 1000 live oranges that appear to be floating in space at Global Shop in Las Vegas, the World’s premier retailing show.

Mr. Harvey’s personal mantra is Passion, Experience, Success, a fitting tribute to the accomplishments he has achieved in a 35 year career that has forgone any formal education.