​Damien Lynch

Work experience

 

Assistant designer - Siren Furniture LTD 

 

Job description: Designer of furniture, specialising in upholstery and cabinet as required is the main role. This position is all encompassing, Designing, Briefing, Sketching, Working drawings, CAD work, Computer modelling, Presenting, Costing. Liaising with staff and managing junior staff as required.

Briefing and liaising with Prototypers, Production staff, managers, Directors and Suppliers. Meetings with customers, Representing Siren in sales meetings and exhibitions. Designing exhibition layouts, Managing and setting up exhibitions and presentations etc.

 

 

Intern Designer/maker - Duffy London, London

• Assist with everyday general enquiries within the office 

• Provide general assistance to senior designer  

• Test Products using models and prototypes

• Construct finished, high end pieces of furniture

• Assist with workshop duties

 

Since starting at Duffy London I have been involved in every step of the design process by which they design products. From constructing initial sketch concepts, right through to the manufacturing of products. I am currently involved in a brief to produce furniture based on stalagmites, unfortunately this is as much as i can say as the company wish to make the ideas, understandably, private. On a day to day basis I, along with another intern manufacture the products in the workshop as well as working on current briefs. I design packaging and transportation crates using Rhino3D software. The design process at Duffy differs slightly from my experience at Jake Phipps and I feel I have handled and adapted  this change quite easily

 

Intern Designer/Maker - Jake Phipps Limited, London (unpaid)

• Assist with everyday general enquiries within the office 

• Provide general assistance to senior designer  

• Test Products using models and prototypes

• Construct finished, high end pieces of furniture (valued at approx £30,000)

• Design and plan spacial arrangements for design exhibitions (London Superbrands Show)

• Assist with workshop duties

 

As an integral part of the production of high end, limited edition pieces of furniture. at Jake Phipps Limited. I developed a more hands on approach to design,  through the construction of prototypes and final concepts in a workshop environment. On occasion doing work for A-list celebrities. I actively participated in all aspects of the design process and offerd my own ideas. I had the pleasure of constructing pieces of furniture which were exhibited at the London design Festival as part of Tent London’s Superbrands show. I also developed skills in software packages such as Rhino. I believe that this period of progression has provided me with knowledge that is hard to come by in the design and production world as I now understand the problems that occur in the physical construction of products. 

 

Product Designer – Sliderobes HQ Belfast (unpaid)

• Construct in depth market research 

• Generate initial sketch concepts for 3 new ranges of free standing furniture 

• Liaise with manufacturers to discuss production techniques and costing

• Present market research and 3 Ranges of furniture to heads of the company via Powerpoint presentation 

• Construct products through the use of Solidworks software and rendering packages.

• Generate costing spreadsheets for each of the new ranges of furniture  

• Present, professional, final concepts to the heads of each department using powerpoint presentations.

 

As the only qualified product/furniture designer in the design team I had numerous responsibilities in the design process and played an integral part within the team, reporting to the head of product development at each stage. By having this experience I acquired key communication and negotiating skills (meeting with manufactures to discuss costing and processes to ensure a unified collaboration) and highly developed project management  and problem solving skills through the development of the design process. I believe it made me even more hard working and flexible as I had numerous projects to juggle at the same time  and also contributed to my role as a strong team player with the ability to relate effectively to co-workers.  

 

Redbull Student Brand Manager

• Build Redbull presence in pubs and shops on and around the campus area

• Report weekly trade reviews to the SBM Co-ordinator and reps

• Report weekly trade reviews to the SBM Co-ordinator on activity, news, highlights and learnings

• Implement SBM projects and activities on campus 

• Build relationships with key members of the university as well as shop owners 

• Project support at Redbull events 

 

At the end of my two years with Richmond I was awarded for outstanding achievement in sales support after a boost of 61% in sales on my campus. I was also offered a promotion to work full-time as Student Brand Manager Co-ordinator, which I declined in view of a career in design.