Zoe Knight

Luxury leathergoods specialist, consulting on projects for international brands, particularly focused on sustainable fashion practices, providing an outstanding design and consultancy service, demonstrating excellent brand and market knowledge, and seeing through designs from concept to market. •Specialist in creating strong brand identity, demonstrating solid research through both creative instinct and business and market analysis, furthermore designing, collection building, sourcing, overseeing product development and manufacture through to market and post production. •Enjoying working with global teams including buying and merchandise teams, production teams, manufacturers and marketing teams both as a team player and team leader. •Professional and personable when working with both new and existing manufacturers, priding myself on creating strong and warm working relationships, and happy to work long hours at the factories to develop solutions and innovations. Furthermore producing both hand drawing and design tech packs. •Exceptional interpersonal and leadership skills when working with CEOs, COOs and CVOs, with the ability to persuade through backed reasoning to coordinate on global success. Furthermore trusted with style direction and vision.

Initially responsible for designing the SS18 campaign bags, a Claudia Schiffer European inspired line to compliment the German heritage of the brand. Following the success of this I was hired to become a Creative Consultant on the overall brand image and identity of the brand. •Specifically I designed 'Trisha' suede and leather bags for the MCM SS18 marketing campaign and modelled by social media influencer 'Golden Barbie.' This accounted for a huge 30% of the brand's marketing budget, and is now a staple in the product offering. •I worked directly with the then Creative Director Michael Michalsky to influence the direction of the brand, furthermore travelling to and from Seoul to meet with (and present to) the Korean team, in addition to travelling to Italy on a regular basis for meetings and manufacturing purposes. •Additionally I worked very closely with and reported to the owner of MCM, Sung-Joo Kim, developing a great relationship with her, who appreciated my direction, wisdom and honest approach.

Co-founder/Owner and Creative Director of a fashion and design retail business (based on a rental model) supporting some of the most iconic and up and coming womenswear, jewellery and accessories brands from the UK and beyond from a luxury retail store on Ledbury Road, Notting Hill. •I worked with new design talent and mentored them, giving manufacturing advice, product and range plan advice, pricing structures and helped with brand identity. •I secured a joint venture between Wolf &Badger and Selfridges working with Sebastian Manes and senior directors at Selfridges to produce and curate a critically acclaimed pop up store in their Wonder Room at Selfridges including my selection of art, design and fashion. •Furthermore, I worked with a PR company to organise a highly successful launch night with 'A' list industry cheeses and celebrities, working through the night with the Selfridges design team to get the shop floor ready for the launch night and subsequently enjoying significant critical acclaim. •Awarded a 'Walpole Brand of Tomorrow Award' following the success in the first year of trading, the first award of its type awarded by Walpole for such a young brand.

Successful in bringing a more luxury element to the existing product offer and recreating the bag offering within the Paul Smith brand and identity. •Reporting to Paul Smith directly, the Creative Director and CEO with formal presentations of design ideas and concepts, including working collectively with the womenswear team, developing independent designs and working with the product team (and my assistants) on production with the Italian manufacturers. •Travelled to Tokyo, Japan frequently to work on the Paul Smith license line, working with license partners and their design team. Furthermore, creating installations and displays for press and sales events, and understanding cultural differences and tastes for successful sales results. •Instrumental in helping successfully double the sales within the first two seasons and furthermore designing the campaign and runway bags. •Responsible for driving creative input when the Creative Director left.

Zoe Knight was my own brand of luxury handbags and leathergoods sold through luxury department stores and high end boutiques globally. •I secured investment, working with key strategic partners and understanding the business significantly to deliver a creative vision and manage operations day to day. This included leading a team of four staff across different areas and managing relations with external parties, including manufacturers, production (both in UK and Italy) PR, distribution and directly with stores and buyers. •I was the Creative Director responsible for all design and brand identity for the label, seeing a gap in the market for unique design led products, with a lower ticket price than the super brans but also producing out of Italy. I was also very present in boardroom meeting with partners and stakeholders, working together on delivering global KPIs. •I was personally invited to present the collections at international trade fairs and secured distribution through luxury boutiques and department stores worldwide including Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Saks, Barneys, Isetan Japan to name a few and furthermore enjoyed considerable worldwide press.

Initially headhunted by Stella McCartney, I was responsible for designing a new range of accessories for the brand including handbags, belts and small leather goods. •Most successfully I created the iconic 'bracelet' bag that has recently had an explosive revival. •Following Stella's departure I worked directly with Phoebe Philo on themes and directions, instigating independent research and design development, and furthermore working with the team in Paris. •Worked with Phoebe Philo on the runway and campaign bags, furthermore enjoying global sales success and worldwide critical acclaim.

Working my way from junior designer to Head of Design, I was responsible for designing both main line and blue label collections, maintaining an excellent relationship with Anya Hindmarch, working closely with her, the team and the CEO. •Trusted with style and direction, instrumental in orchestrating design ideas such as 'Be a Bag' (printed photographic handbags) and Sweetie bags (Walkers, Dairy Milk, Turkish Delight, and Tesco etc.) that have gained iconic status. •I worked with the team at Jimmy Choo on an Anya Hindmarch/ Jimmy Choo collaboration that included whimsical designs such as high heeled 'Daz' pumps and other household names on shoes. •During my time at Anya Hindmarch, the brand won the British Accessory of the Year Award 2001.