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074  / iDeNTiTy

Kevin Schopfer has had the good fortune to

 be branded an authority in the design world. Henot only owns and operates Schopfer Associates,

a highly regarded architecture, planning, andinterior-design rm, but he has also dipped his

ngers into countless other aspects of design, building businesses that range from a dry-cleaning hanger enterprise to his new, high-end

 yacht-design company, Schopfer Yachts.“My approach to branding has more to do

 with the products I’m offering than the individ-ual companies themselves,” Schopfer says. “Look at Ralph Lauren and how many different busi-

nesses he has under his brand—it’s really justone company with many different divisions.”

Over the course of his 40-year career, Schopferhas created a brand that includes more than six

different design companies under its umbrella.Each business began as a hobby—Schopferspends his free time exploring his curiosity of 

all things design. “They all fall under the realmof design, which is a natural extension of archi-

tecture,” he says.Schopfer began his foray into entrepreneur-

ship while studying architecture at Syracuse

University. His rst business was a design com-pany called Usque Designs Ltd., which produced

a unique plexiglass calendar with a designso distinctive, it was sold exclusively at the

Museum of Modern Art store. In 1978 Schopfercofounded Boston-based rm Ahearn Schopfer

 Associates, which later transitioned into his

independent rm in 2010. He also cofoundedimport/export design company Plus Designs

International, as well as hanger-design rm HHHolding Company.

One of Schopfer’s greatest successes was

Marsnext.com, an Internet space-commercecommunity he founded in 2000 that went on to

receive a Golden Web Award in 2001. “I placedthe most emphasis on marketing Marsnext. We

 went after publications like WIRED magazine because it was a very specialized company thatneeded niche marketing,” he says.

Schopfer explains, “I think it’s great to beinvolved with many different companies, each

e. keViN ScHoPFer rEliEs on

an advEnturous a pproach to

gEt his EclEctic dEsign

vEnturEs oFF thE ground

one brand'sAMBITION

TimeLiNe oF ScHoPFer'S brANDS

1969 

B Schoper ounds Usque,

whose products are exclusively

sold at the Museum o Modern

Art’s design store

1970 

BBegins designing lights or

George Kovacs, a renowned

contemporary designer; the

partnership lasts 20 years

1978 

BCoounds architecture and

interiors frm Ahearn Schoper

Associates

1985 

B Founds Plus Designs Interna-

tional, an import/export design

company, with William Sidel

1987 

B Forms HH Holding Company,

a hanger company or dry

cleaners

2000 

B Founds Marsnext.com, an

Internet community centered

around the inevitability o

space commerce

2008 

B Schoper is hired to design the

International UFO Museum and

Research Center in Roswell, NM

B Schoper Yachts is ounded

2009 

B Schoper designs a “demon-

stration” oating city or New

Orleans2010 

B Schoper Associates LLC is

ormed

BDesigns “demonstration”

oating cities or Boston and

Haiti

2011 

B Schoper serves as a key-

note speaker at the designEX

convention in Australia, where

he speaks about virtual cities,

oating cities, and yachts

worDS

Lisa Ryan

reNDeriNGS

Tangram 3DS

tangram3ds.com

PorTrAiT

Matthew Guillory

mattgphoto.com

brANDS

Schoper Associates LLC

Schoper Yachts

Marsnext.com

Plus Designs International

HH Holding Company

Usque Designs Ltd.

PAreNT comPANy

Schoper Associates LLC

160 Commonwealth Ave.

Boston, MA 02116

617 262 1410

schoperassociates.com

01

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