About the Organisation: This company is primarily a Sourcing & Design Agency that provides the link between International buyers and Asian suppliers. A multinational team based in
New Delhi, Shanghai, London and Curitiba (Brazil) combines local sourcing and product knowledge with an International understanding of aesthetics required by different countries and the importance of producing quality items.
One of the strengths of the business is being the one point of contact for the buyer irrespective of the number of suppliers used in any one country. Design, coordination, assurance of supply, quality and delivery all fall under the companies responsibility to the supplier. Also of utmost importance to the business is ensuring that the goods purchased have been produced in an ethically acceptable way.
Currently the company represents leading home and lifestyle retail brands and mail order companies in Europe and the Americas.
Who they are: The business is almost 10 years old and was started by a UK businessman who had lived and work in Asia from 1989. He realised there was a need for merging the western approach of work ethics and quality standards with the diversity of Indian products and creativity.
The Business Now: The company is now supplying major international retailers with a large variety of products and has offices in 4 countries. Examples of soft furnishings include quilts, throws, pillowcases, sheets, decorative accessories, curtains, towels and rugs. Hard furnishings include ceramics, glass, table top accessories, wall art, lighting, wooden & metal indoor and outdoor furniture.
The strengths of the business are sourcing, product design and development, quality assurance and logistics.
What you’ll be doing:
Product Design and Development - The company has a large portfolio of products currently being retailed around the world. The product design cycle means that products being retailed now were designed in 2006 and products being designed now will be for the market in 2008. Obviously with this lead time it is essential that the future fashions and trends are assessed and used to develop items quickly that will be commercially successful. Once designed the items are then manufactured to a strict deadline to ensure enough time for shipping to destination for the products to be on the shelves by the date the buyer requested.
Product design therefore brings a number of different aspects together to make an item that will retail successfully. Trends in the market combined with suitable fabrics and materials, patterns and colours along with price sensitivity. The design teams job is to work out that successful combination then pass it to the technical team for developing into a production plan for manufacturing.
Technical Design & Development - Essentially you will be working with the design team as above but using your skills to translate the vision of the product or an idea onto the computer. This allows any design to be shown to the client for assessment of suitability and technical flaws to be ironed out before an actual product is developed.