New to Seattle Area (Advice)

Hi, Core77ers

I recently moved to the Seattle, Washington area and I’m currently looking for full-time/part time work as a Industrial Designer in the home-goods kitchenware sectors. Does anyone have any suggestions with where to look for design work in Washington? I’ve applied to a number of jobs on linkedin and indeed but besides the normal job hubs where should I look? Advice is greatly appreciated.


Thank you!!

Chef’N
PMI
Progressive

Hey NMICLETTE

slippyfish is right on the money.
heads-up though : Chef’n has grown to be part of a larger design team.
We now do work for a handful of brands and we’re taking on a new identity.

Our new website is starting to come together…

We’re not currently hiring, but I do love helping people connect. Holler if I can help.

Joe

Hi, Slippyfish

Thanks for the list! I’ll jump on the job portals and their websites and see if they have opportunities.

Thank you!

  • Nik

Hi, jGray

Glad to hear from someone at Chef’n! I actually applied awhile back for an internship opportunity at Chef’n…The design work yall are doing is awesome, the new website is looking very nice too! Would you mind checking out my portfolio when you get a chance? I’m always looking for feedback especially from someone in that part of the industry. Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post!

Portfolio: www.nmiclette.com

That new Filament Brands site is well done!

Also

True Fabrications
Tovolo
RSVP intl

Loving the Filament Brand’s site. 160 patents and 3,000 products…that’s quite a number :open_mouth:

Going OT on the patents and sku count… depends on if they are counting utility or design patents in that number, but with such a number of acquired brands, and a few with long histories, it seems about right… one of the things about legacy acquired brands are the long product tails. I was always arguing to cut in my last role, but there was always a sales guy who that sku represented x amount of revenue to and who had trouble switching them to the new stuff. In the end we succeeded in cutting the skew count a bit, but not as much as I’d have like to. I always dreamed of having a meeting like that chapter in Walter Isaacson’s book on Steve jobs where he comes into the room, draws a two by two, and reduced the sky count from over a hundred to 4… OT mode off :slight_smile:

Hi, Smyoung

Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll check them out!

Amazon?

patents are all brands - utility and design. Not sure what the split is

oh yeah! I saw the same resistance from established sales teams. It was difficult to gain alignment on individual vs. company goals at first.
We did a whole SKU rationalization exercise and discovered that some brands really needed some cuts - others: not as much as we thought.
In some cases we needed a clear definition of one brand vs. another.

We still have a ways to go, but I’m very proud of the progress made in 2 years.
The design work for rbt was a particular highlight.

Thanks for the comments!

jg

Hey Nik,

Happy to provide some review.
Holler at me with a DM - can connect for coffee in town sometime if it works.

jg

Also if you ever want to grab a coffee with another Seattle-based freelance ID designer let me know. Only been in the city a few months, but always good to meet people in the area.

Thanks for the suggestion! Sadly they aren’t recruiting for entry level/intern positions at this time. I’ll keep an eye out thought :slight_smile:!

Hi, Sain

I’d love to meet up sometime. Right now I’m still in the process of getting settled still, I just arrived four days ago…Although I’ll be settled by the end of the month when my apartment lease starts. In the mean time, I’d love some feedback on my portfolio! Yours looks awesome… I love the Adidas watches btw!!!

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  • Nik Miclette

I believe all of the ID at amazon is done in the Bay Area at a place called Lab 126 (I honk that is the number)… run by an ex frog.

yo - mostly correct - all of the AMZN consumer electronics ID is done at SF and Mtn View’s Lab 126, but there are a handful of industrial design roles in Seattle working on Operations or Advanced Projects.

interesting…