Freelance Product Designers

Freelance Product Designers About Balineum Balineum launched in November 2007 selling online, fabric shower curtains, shower curtain liners and rings. Through word of mouth and some small targeted PR, website traffic and sales have grown steadily. A luxury towelling range launched in August 2008. Balineum is a Latin word for bathhouse. It is our plan to become the number one consumer brand for bathroom linens and accessories across Europe. We have started with fabric shower curtains and towels, but we expect to stock all the items our customers need to update their bathrooms such as mats, hampers, bathrobes, small storage containers, soaps, toiletries etc. There is no one brand exclusively known for bathroom linens and accessories – other companies such as Conran, The White Company, Yves Delorme, and Bellora – are well known for their bedroom or living room items and offer bathroom items as a secondary or tertiary line. We believe there is opportunity to offer customers better products and better designs to update and accessorise their bathroom all in the one place. Our Design Philosophy At their core, all of our designs must be classic, simple, elegant, and timeless. We may add subtle twists, or modern references, but above all else Balineum products are classics. They're designed to transcend fashion and fads with excellent quality, functionality and style. All designs must work in the bathroom of someone we know – a friend, a family member or a colleague. All designs must last longer than one season. If everyone else is doing it, it unlikely we should do it too. There are lots of beautiful things in the world. We need to know about them and love them, but we don’t necessarily need to design them, sell them or imitate them. Having said that, we don’t think anyone wears one designer from head to toe, and nor should you be a slave to one style of interiors. Our focus is the bathroom. Our role is to narrow the choice for our customers, to tell them what we think is a beautiful and quality product, and to provide them the staples of their bathroom style. They can then accessorise with whatever other elements they like. We often find inspiration reading World of Interiors, Domino and online blogs like This is Glamorous or Remodalista. We love New York brownstones, Gramercy Park, modern American glamour, Palm Beach, Jonathan Adler and the occasional splash of chintz. We dream of Christmas in a log cabin, and a weekend retreat in a Belgian farmhouse. We love Paris, London’s Georgian townhouses, English gardens, box hedge, gardenias, jasmine, daphne, and, everything really, at Petersham Nurseries. Our customers live amongst all these styles, and we nod to all these inspirations. Oh, and we really love natural fabrics and textures: wooden floor boards, linen, sisal, cashmere, polished concrete, hand painted ceramics, stone and marble; and use them wherever possible. Designer Responsibilities We’re always looking for freelance product designers to contribute their design skills to the Balineum product range. We need designers across a variety of product types and materials, and have factories all around the world to call upon for production. You will be required to: • Prepare sketches, swatches etc. for initial design boards and presentation • Put together comprehensive design briefs and packs of information to send to factories for sampling • Attend tradeshows, meet with vendors, factories and other members of the design team as needed • Work with factories to revise samples as needed; assist in sourcing fabrics, trims, etc. • Collaborate with marketing and sales teams to name and prepare product for launch • You may need to also work with graphic designer on prints, logos, artwork, and graphics for packaging Necessary Personal Characteristics • • • • • • • Sophisticated sense of proportion and an understanding of its relevance to a good design Should be aware of trends and new ideas and should be able to interpret those into fantastic brand appropriate designs Good sense of color, especially across different materials and textures Proactive: always on the look out for great ideas and great design inspirations. Take full ownership and responsibility for projects Ability to do actual work, rather than simply manage, delegate or talk about it Positive attitude Essential Experience • • • Expert in Adobe Creative Suite Experience of working in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment with competing deadlines and priorities Strong specing background Desirable Experience Experience in the USA, and/or familiarity with US home brands, designers, magazines and online design blogs, highly desirable To Apply Please send us brief resume along with examples of relevant previous work to employment@balineum.co.uk No agencies please.