About

Sam Nichol is an interior and furniture designer with over 10 years experience in the industry. He has worked on inexpensive and high-end interior design projects, for firms and freelance.

He has worked for small companies producing upholstered furniture in the UK, worked for business producing large batch quantities in China and companies producing bespoke joinery for the London market.Sam loves making people feel that their space belongs to them, with long-lasting designs that mean something personal, work incredibly well and look great.

Sam hates trends, fashion and the colour of the year. Have something that lasts not something that is trendy and pollutes the planet and landfill.

CV

Relevant Experience

Freelance - Designer

2020-Present

Freelance Design work including furniture, lighting and interiors. Including working on a new range of kitchens for a high-end interiors company in Oxfordshire, banquette design for the national gallery.

Nottingham Trent University - University Lecturer

2017

Teaching first year students design process, researching, modelling and sketching.

Blakes London - Designer/Technician

2015-2020

Designed and developed several new ranges of kitchen cabinetry and countless bespoke units.
Project managed multiple projects worth fifty thousand pounds and above.
Oversaw production of kitchen ranges, plus bespoke cabinetry and interior design from early design stages to fully fitted furniture. Frequent communication with customers, fitters, manufactures/makers, architects and interior designers.
Overhauled the back-end management system of company. Created and used a stock management for all appliances and accessories saving thousands of pounds and man hours a year.
Frequently problem solved under extremely tight time pressures, finding solutions to clients requirements that work in practice.
Started developing a batch-production range of kitchens.
High levels of flexibility including taking on roles of technical development and managing purchases.
Found new suppliers and negotiated prices.
Designed, developed ordered and oversaw installation of all metal work (steel, brass etc)

Live Iconic Ltd - Furniture Designer

2013-2015

Designing and developing ranges of upholstered & hardwood furniture.
Communicating daily with Chinese manufacturer and visiting China to oversee production.
Procured new high end fabric and leather suppliers. Dealign with costs, logistics, order numbers, codes and minimum delivery orders of values of over £100,000.
Using a CNC modelled moulds for fibreglass furniture.

& Then Design - Junior Designer

2010-2011

Furniture design, concept generation & development.
Frequently Visiting UK-based manufacturers.
Co-Running design exhibition stands such as 100% Design and Tent London

Education

Nottingham Trent University - 1st BA Hons Furniture Design

2009-2012

Furniture design, concept generation & development.
Co-Running design exhibition stands such as 100% Design and Tent London

Colchester institute - Foundation Diploma in Art And Design (3D Design)

2009-2012

Learning to draw, paint, sculpt, develop the creative process and develop an interest in modern art.

Skills

Upholstery knowledge.
Sketch work.
Model making.
DIY Building/repairing including building bicycles.
Metal work knowledge.
Cabinet making knowledge.
Excellent AutoCAD skills.
Excellent Fusion 360 Skills
Parametric Model making
Technical drawings to BS/ISO standards.
SolidWorks, Fusion 360, 3DS Max, Sketchup and Vectorworks model making.
Designing for, programming, prototyping and manufacture using a 3-Axis CNC machine.
High quality computer rendering using Blender, 3DS Max VRay.
Good Knowledge of FF&E
Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign
Basic web design skills.
Good knowledge of Mac OS, Windows. and MS Office.