Senior Designer

We are looking for a senior designer, with a minimum of five years experience in design for spirits or luxury brands; a great creative mind, with ability to communicate their ideas, and the tenacity to to get them made.

About Burgess Studio

Burgess Studio is a design agency based in London, specialising in luxury spirits. We work with most of the great Scotch distilleries, and in the area of old and rare whiskies we are the number one agency worldwide, holding four current world records for values achieved at auction, for four different distilleries. Our focus is high-value releases, and brands.

What would I be doing?

As senior designer, you will work closely with the directors and design team on all aspects of the projects we undertake. This is primarily a creative role; we need you to develop great ideas in response to a brief, and be able to communicate those ideas to the wider studio. Once the creative route is in place, we need you to take the project forward, in direct contact with both our clients and our network of makers, to make sure your vision is maintained until delivery.

What kind of projects do you work on?

Many different things, which keeps it interesting. At any given time we are creating brands for distilleries, developing new bottles, decanters and cases, whilst also art-directing film and photography shoots, and working with illustrators and artists. We also source and manage production of a lot of the items we design, as the work is so specialised; it’s a fascinating part of the job and means communicating with experts in many different industries.

What kind of person are you looking for?

A creative thinker, who is self-motivated and culturally engaged, with a keen eye for quality. Prior experience in whisky, or the wider spirits world would be a help, but is not essential. What is very important is that you genuinely believe that you could become interested... because if you develop an interest in whisky, the job won’t feel like work. You will have access to the best distilleries in the world, at the very top level.

What is the studio like?

Busy, hardworking, hopefully enjoyable. We are a small group working on a lot of different projects at the same time. Everybody works from the studio (there is no working from home) which is a good thing if you want to progress fast, as there are always people around to ask for help. It’s a team rather than a corporate structure. We are interested in ideas… and if you have a good idea we will encourage you to pursue it.

Perks

Beware of companies offering too many perks; it usually means they have dull clients, and if you aren’t enjoying your job no amount of free donuts are going to help. That said, we try not to work on Friday afternoons. It’s discretionary, and largely self-governed. If you feel like your work is done, and the other people on your project aren’t drowning, then go home!

Job details

The job is studio based, full time. We start at 9am and finish at 6pm. On Fridays we try to leave by 1pm. You will receive twenty days holiday a year plus national holidays. We also shut the studio between Christmas and New Year.