Creative Design Assistant
We have an exciting opportunity to join our well-regarded design team. This is a chance to work alongside some of the most talented designers and makers in the country.
Making exquisite homes of fine period houses
Artichoke was founded on the belief that brilliantly designed joinery can immeasurably improve a client’s experience of living in a period building.
From simple beginnings on a borrowed workshop bench, we have evolved to become leaders in our field. Commissions have led us through the doors of some of England’s most intriguing homes, each offering the exciting challenge of how to fit it for modern life without compromising its historic elegance and value.
Thirty years on, we are still excited by our work with wood and remain fascinated by its power to shape homes. By combining sensitive joinery design with as much imagination and flair as a brief allows, we believe our work can form part of a building’s architectural heritage for generations to come.
Artichoke interiors are joinery-led
Architectural joinery achieves something no other trade can in creating liveable and architecturally authentic houses. It is the punctuation in the grammar of a house. It adds shade, shape and meaning to different spaces. Without it, the grandest room presents as plain as a box.
This puts us in a unique position, filling the gap between architects and interior designers, creating the interior structure that makes sense of a house – and providing designers with the canvas they need. Our creative design studio and state-of-the-art workshop are in Cheddar, Somerset – within easy reach of Bath, Bristol and the M5.
The Role of Creative Design Assistant
Artichoke is seeking to employ an enthusiastic Creative Design Assistant reporting to the Creative Director and assisting the conceptual design team more generally.
The ideal candidate will have illustrative/graphical talent and be in the early stages of their career, adegree in a related discipline and be passionate about interior design with a taste for period buildings and furniture.
The role will primarily involve assistance with design presentations to clients, compiling technical drawings, product specifications and reference imagery into a digital document, and producing striking three-dimensional visualisations through digital art software.
It is essential that presentation documents are highly professional and suitably attractive. They will also need to be pulled together to tight deadlines. Therefore innate organisational ability and visual perfectionism are necessary. Relevant software includes those such as AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, Sketchup, Procreate or Sketchbook, 3DS Max.
General assistance is also required during the creative design process:
- Research into architectural/furniture details, commercial appliances, decorative furnishings, materials, and specialist manufacturers
- Sourcing and creating blocks and data for our design library in AutoCAD
- Contacting suppliers to organise samples and material palettes
- Collating product information in Excel specification documents
An interest in marketing, branding and social media is desirable as there may be opportunities to assist in this regard, helping to grow awareness of Artichoke as a luxury brand to high net worth individuals.
Depending on the candidate’s abilities, opportunities for progression are in furniture design, interior architectural design and decorative design.
Contract type
Permanent, full time Salary commensurate with experience.
To apply, please send your CV and portfolio to anthony@artichoke.co.uk along with a brief description of why this job is interesting to you and why you think you’d be good at it.
The deadline for applications is Friday 24 July 2020. Those who are shortlisted will be asked to attend an interview on Zoom in early August.
Period Finisher and Alchemist
Artichoke is seeking to employ an enthusiastic finisher with a passion for finishing and a flair for giving new wood a history and layers of life and wear.
The ideal candidate will have the aptitude and experience for finishing and an understanding for the alchemic processes which give old life to new timber.
They will need to be skilled in all areas of furniture preparation and finishing with technical knowledge, understanding and experience in traditional, decorative and specialist finishes. You will be experienced in the selection and application of appropriate finishing materials including paints, stains, shellacs, French polishes and waxes. You will understand how to utilise traditional materials to accelerate the natural ageing process to create surfaces that are authentic, beautiful and resilient.
You will need to be able to demonstrate the ability to work on individual pieces, from start to finish, as well as working as part of a team on larger projects. Experience, knowledge and understanding in the application of spray finishes would also be advantageous.
Contract type
Permanent, full time Salary commensurate with experience.
To apply, please send your CV and portfolio to john@artichoke.co.uk
The deadline for applications is Monday 3rd August 2020. Those who are shortlisted will be asked to attend an interview on Zoom in early August.