Associate Designer, Textiles

We inspire purpose-filled living that brings joy to the modern home. With a team of more than 8,000 associates spanning 130 store and distribution locations across the U.S. and Canada, we achieve together, drive results and innovate to inspire. Drawn together by a shared passion for our customers and a spirit of fun, we deliver high-quality home furnishings that are expertly designed, responsibly sourced and bring beauty and function to people’s homes. From the day we opened our first store in Chicago in 1962 to the digital innovations that engage millions of customers today, our iconic brand is over 60 years in the making—and our story is still unfolding.

We’re here for it. We think you should be too. We’re looking for a driven professional with an inclusive mindset to join our team as an Associate Designer, Textiles.

The Associate Designer, Textiles is an important designer role within the brand’s Design and Development department that helps build the future vision of Crate & Barrel through innovative product design. This position will own design and support the creation of a specific product category in support of Associate Director, and help manage the daily functions of the design area including the ownership of technical development briefs, and sample development management.

This position is a 4 day hybrid position based out of our Headquarters located in Northbrook, Illinois.

A day in the life as an Associate Designer, Textiles…

• Own the product design process for textile categories in Entertaining, Kitchen, and Doormats
• Responsible for overall assortment; develop into sustainable needs, adherent to set trends
• Oversee individual products during the research, communication, spec, development and approval stages, within a set calendar
• May attend trade shows and attend vendor meetings on a seasonal basis, and manage the sampling and design requests to the vendors
• Create presentations for key cross-functional design milestones, digital and physical
• Work collaboratively with the Hardgoods team to ensure cohesive tablescapes and kitchen stories
• Perform renderings, digital design work and CAD for the product line, that reflects the provided mood
• Own the development of technical product design specifications and CADs
• Own product amendment comments for design and color, and revisions through the design development and sampling process
• Maintain seasonal concept documents and design records, digital and physical
• Maintain color boards relevant to categories; physical and digital
• Manage design samples through their entire lifecycle
• Partner with facilities to organize and maintain sample storage and review spaces
  
  

What You’ll Bring To The Table…

• Passion for design, style and decorating and knowledge of design and art history
• Understanding of home trends and current fabrications as it relates to the current market trends
• Ability to interact and collaborate with senior members of the team and major vendors with experience on product development
• Ability to make decisions on operational matters that impact the effectiveness of their work
• Ability to translate business and design objectives into successful products.
• Results Oriented - Identify and support opportunities for improvement in business management and process design
• Communication - Communicate effectively and efficiently with all company associates and business contacts
• Teamwork - Build effective relationships with internal partners in Design, Merchandising, and Sourcing to help execute cross functional synergy and collaboration
• Participate in special projects, as needed
• Promote a strong sense of teamwork
• Customer Service (Internal and External) - Support and model excellent service to internal and external customers in all forms of action and communication
  
  

We’d love to hear from you if you have…

• Must provide Portfolio link (including password) on resume or link to PDF samples
• A minimum of 3 years experience designing textiles for home furnishings
• Experience developing knits, wovens, and prints for home furnishing markets
• Understanding of different yarns, fibers, dyes, fabrics, knitting, weaving, and printing techniques
• Experience with technical design and design brief creation
• BFA or MA in Textile Design or any related design field
• Strong knowledge of design and art history
• Must have excellent computer skills in Illustrator and Photoshop to communicate design ideas through CADS and Specs
• Must have experience working with vendors and mills to execute designs
• Excellent communication and organizational skills to relay design ideas to merchants
• Must pass a Munsell Color test to perform color approvals
  
  

Crate: Corporate Office