Setting out to create products they wanted as Mac users, Andrew and Leigh Ann Green founded Twelve South around a dining room table in Mount Pleasant’s I’On neighborhood. Launching the company in 2009, the couple began with a vertical laptop stand, a monitor shelf, and the “BookBook,” a now-iconic leather MacBook cover. Seventeen years later, the company has expanded well beyond Apple accessories with products, like the best-selling “AirFly” Bluetooth travel adapter, as well as a new CEO, Diego Nunez, who describes the brand’s future as “an invitation to a better way of living.”
Green, the cofounder and chief creative officer, previously designed products for Griffin Technology and Charleston-based DLO, now part of the Philips group. His process is driven by instinct and prototyping. Ideas arrive in the shower, get sketched on napkins, and become foam-core models long before anyone opens a CAD program. “At the beginning of a product concept, I want to feel it as fast as possible,” says Green, who created a four-piece, foam-core mock-up that ultimately led to the “ButterFly SE,” a folding two-in-one charger launched in 2023.
Nunez, who studied at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, and was an early employee at Beats Electronics, says his first priority was understanding Green’s vision and “distilling the DNA of what defines Twelve South” as the company scales. The goal, he says, was to prove that “even though we’ve made an impact in the Apple world, there’s a much bigger company here that can stay rooted in Charleston, while expanding what we’re about.”
A recent product, the “Valet” charging station, signals where the brand is headed. Wrapped in leather and designed to rest unobtrusively on a nightstand or entryway console, it reads more as a home object than a tech accessory. “It was a conscious decision to take a technology product that lives in your home and turn it into a home product,” Green explains. “Our customers want stuff that blends into their homes, not just another chunk of plastic.” The Valet’s low, flat profile is intentional. “People are trying to disconnect from devices at home,” says Nunez. “You can leave your phone and walk away from it. There’s a ritual to it that’s very comforting.”
Charleston continues to shape the company in ways both subtle and significant. Removed from the tech bubbles of Silicon Valley and Hong Kong, the team of 27 based at the Pacific Box & Crate headquarters is able to “see things a little differently,” Green says. Even the brand’s lifestyle photography reflects that perspective, shot in subtropical light, around the Lowcountry. “When you look at our product shots, you see Charleston’s influence,” he says. “It’s completely different from the generic stuff our competitors do.” For Nunez, the city’s strong sense of place is both an inspiration and an aspiration for the brand.
Humble Origins: Andrew and Leigh Ann Green’s first office was above what is now Saint Urban’s wine bar in the I’On neighborhood of Mount Pleasant.
Best in Show: The “AirFly,” an adapter that connects wireless headphones to in-flight audio jacks, is Twelve South’s biggest hit to date, and the number-one-selling Bluetooth adapter in the world.
Home Base: Wrapped in leather and designed to lie flat, the “Valet” charging station is built to blend seamlessly into the home.
By the Numbers: Twelve South has products for sale in every Apple store in the world.
Learn More: www.twelvesouth.com
