Between 2002 & 2004 I worked for Sunbeam, a small appliance manufacturer based in Sydney, Australia. The position introduced me to offshore, large volume manufacture and required that I not only design the products (as a traditional industrial designer) but often detail them for tooling – including internal mechanisms, housing components etc. Designers would then follow the product through to mass production, working with the Chinese vendor to maintain the design integrity during the pre-production phases.
As processes such as CNC machining and 3d printing were still largely expensive bureau-based businesses designers would typically also hand make all the models to verify mechanisms, for photography or for performance testing. It was a wide and challenging role in which I worked and learned from numerous talented designers and engineers.
