Creative Director / Iittala

Our purpose at Fiskars Group is to make the everyday extraordinary. Join our team and seize the extraordinary opportunity to influence the everyday!

Iittala team is looking for a Creative Director to make our brand stories come to life through products, marketing, e-com and store design. The right candidate comes with experience from e.g. fashion, interior, product or brand. The position is based in our Helsinki headquarters.

Why Iittala?

As Iittala passes its 140 year anniversary, we are determined to remain a modern and relevant lifestyle brand well into the future. We set exceptional product standards, work with the best craftsmen and women and with respect for our own history, we constantly reinvent ourselves. With our homes being more important to us than ever, our tableware, interiors and art is more relevant than ever.

Our purpose is to make the everyday extraordinary and as part of the Fiskars Group, Iittala belongs to a family of design-driven brands, including Fiskars, Royal Copenhagen, Wedgwood, Waterford and Gerber. Since 1649, we’ve been there in the everyday – homes, gardens and outdoors – making it better for each other and the world around us.

Why Iittala design?

Design is at the heart of Iittala. Our Aalto vase, Kaj Franck’s Teema collection and Oiva Toikka’s birds are a constant reminder of the lasting power of design. Our goal is clear: to leverage relevance, craftsmanship and innovation to connect to and remain relevant for modern consumers through products, services and communication. The Iittala design team works closely with our Design Director and creative leaders of the Fiskars Group’s other winning brands, sharing insights, best practices and providing each other with design feedback, working as a family of designers.

Our Opportunity

As Creative Director for Iittala, you shape and make our brand stories come to life through products, marketing, e-com and store design. You will ensure design excellence, impact and consistency and set a high standard for the brand experience from communication to product. Through your leadership and creative vision, Iittala will continue to inspire people with our tableware, interiors and art.

As an individual contributor in our product design studio, you will conduct regular design reviews with product designers, work on future roadmaps and continuously shape our creative vision. Through guidance and coaching, you ensure that the design team is constantly doing their best work and growing at the same time. With many key stakeholders across the company you will use passion, inspiration and results to build the strong relationships needed to move people and the brand forward.

You come with the necessary professional leadership experience and your portfolio speaks for itself in terms of your abilities within outstanding product and brand building. When you speak, it is clear that you have grown senior managers and design teams and know how to manage stakeholders in a matrix organization.

In This Role You

• Conduct regular design reviews providing creative ensuring a strong design language and an overall impactful offering
• Guide and mentor the talented design team so everyone grows with their projects while building a strong design culture in the studio led by inspiration, exploration and constant feedback
• Work with our Design Director and NPD Director to ensure that output is delivered at the highest standard and on time
• Own and run projects with external designers and artists from start to finish
• Set creative direction for Arabia and Rörstrand
• Build a strong understanding of our craft through our craftsmen and factories to ensure exceptional products
• Work closely with the business team to prioritize a roadmap that allows design to create real impact for the business
• Work closely with marketing and e-coms to establish the overall brand expression, brief key projects and mentor and guide when needed
• Be a sparring partner for retail design ensuring the overall creative direction comes across in the entire experience
• Continuously work on articulating the creative direction, ensuring it is relevant in key markets, for future audiences and that it inspires the entire team at Iittala
• Take part in BlueSky work, innovation and advancing new technologies and crafts

We Are Looking For a Colleague, How Is

• Passionate and cares deeply about the creative process, creative teams, sustainability and craft
• A thought leader, build trusted relationships, influence decisions and drive urgency on critical priorities
• A mentor that in an matrix environment leads and grows teams of designers with empathy and transparency
• An influencer, who communicates complicated matters, builds trust and gets buy-in from partners
• A strategic thinker and able to think big picture and drive work accordingly
• An instigator who can use creative powers for good and aren’t shy to challenge the norm
• Fluent in both Finnish and English
• A role model of value based leadership, who promotes Fiskars Group Values: Celebrating the everyday, Growing with compassion and Creating change in your everyday behaviour

This role is based in our Finland headquarters. We are moving from Arabianranta to Keilaniemi, Espoo in March 2022. Some travel is expected.

Only applications that include a portfolio will be considered.

Need more details? Please email VP, Design & New Product Development, BA Vita, Michael König by email: michael.konig@fiskars.com.

Join us in making the everyday extraordinary!