A brief history of Intiri
Intiri started in 1995 to export remodeling products to Russia. During 1996 and 1997 Jim and Katya Preston owned a remodeling and interior design firm in Vladivostok, Russia. We were many years, maybe decades, too early for the market so we moved to Seattle in late 1997 and Jim studied Internet commerce and technologies with the wonderful support of Microsoft.
After years of study across some 45 disciplines, research and development, and supplier acquisition we are re-launching the business with Katya's residential tabletop designs in 2007. We are planning residential interior kits of our own designs in the next few years. The initial theme will be California Wine Country.
Tabletops are micro-interiors and can set the stage for achieving the meanings and moods of a lifestyle theme. We use lifestyle themes in our own home and enjoy the ambiance and meaning it brings to our lives daily. We hope you find the meanings and moods that are relevant to your life with our designs.
A brief history of our management and board:
Jim Preston, CEO, board president, and co-founder:
Jim has some 25 years of business experience in construction and public accounting. During college in the 1970's he co-built the well-known Preston Pipelines into one of California's largest underground utility companies, in the 1980's and 90's he worked in the international accounting firms of KPMG and Deloitte and Touche, including as office director, operated his own CPA firm for 12 years in Anchorage, and with his wife Katya owned a remodeling and interior design firm in Russia, along with being the co-founder and majority shareholder of Intiri.
As a CPA he was deeply involved in the start-up and operations of some 100 businesses in dozens of industries, along with litigation consulting and business planning. Jim has been an interior designer as both a hobby and for clients on and off for decades. Jim has also worked in sporting goods retail, as a lineman, construction equipment operator, warehouseman, and as fruit worker as a kid. He has a BS degree in Business Administration (Accounting) with a 3.5 GPA from San Jose State University and extensive continuing education on dozens of subjects.
Katya Preston, co-founder, product designer:
Katya's day job is with a national employee benefits firm as a data analyst and customer service manager. She designs tabletops for Intiri in her off hours and helps with other design, technical, and administrative issues. Katya has worked in employee benefits since 1998. Before that she was the executive assistant to the office director (guess who?) at Deloitte and Touche in Vladivostok, Russia and co-owned Americanski Remont, a remodeling and interior design firm in Vladivostok with her husband Jim. She has a B.S. degree in Education from Russia and almost completed her masters in adult education at the University of Alaska but Jim whisked her back to Russia with the Deloitte job.
Katya is a gourmet cook and has been designing beautiful tabletops for entertaining her friends for decades. After a year of self-study of pretty much everything that is available in English she began prototyping new designs for our California wine country theme. She is also preparing for bedding designs.
Dr. Michael Preis, director and shareholder:
Dr. Michael Preis is our mad professor with a PhD. in customer service / marketing from George Washington University, a Harvard MBA, and a B.S. in mechanical engineering . Mike currently teaches at the University of Illinois but was our VP of purchasing and logistics at our Seattle office during our Russian phase. He previously owned an industrial supply store in Anchorage, Alaska, and was a management consultant with KPMG.
Fred Walker, director and shareholder:
Fred is a former KPMG CPA and currently VP of accounting at General Communication, Inc. in Anchorage, Alaska, a publicly traded company. Fred has extensive experience with SEC accounting for this highly successful telecom. GCI provides local and long-distance telephone, dial-up and broadband cable Internet access, cable TV, and other services in Alaska and some western states. Fred has a B.S. in Economics and a Masters in Accounting from the University of Utah.
Jim, Mike, and Fred have been friends since they met at KPMG in 1979. Katya fell in with this rough crowd when she wandered into Jim's CPA firm in early 1994.
Contact Us
info (at) intiridesigns.com
Intiri, Inc.
2464 El Camino Real #80
Santa Clara, CA 95051-3002
Intiri Projects
Intiri Designs is focused on lifestyle residential product design and online sales. The first designs and available now are California Wine Country table setting kits. Future products include complete lifestyle theme residential interiors.
This project started in October 2007 and launched in March 2008. Wine Questers is a networking site for wine tasters and wineries. It includes travel aids such as accurate GPS maps and recommended day trips in wine country. It is initially focused on the California wine regions with plans to expand to wine regions throughout the world.