Luxury Handbag Technical Designer & Pattern Maker for Manufacturing

We are looking for an experienced luxury handbag technical designer / pattern maker to take an approved handbag design and develop it for prototyping and manufacturing. The visual design, proportions and overall silhouette are already established. We are not looking for a redesign. We need someone with strong technical knowledge of leather goods who can translate the approved design into a structurally sound, manufacturable bag. The Bag The design is a sculptural luxury shoulder bag featuring an asymmetric architectural front and curved construction. Finished dimensions: approximately 29 cm W × 18 cm H × 11.5 cm D (with some flexibility) The bag will use premium full-grain calf leather, luxury lining and custom-designed hardware. The Key Challenge: Structure The structural development of the bag is particularly important. The finished bag needs to: • Maintain the approved sculptural silhouette • Hold its shape without becoming overly rigid or heavy • Preserve the distinctive curved front construction • Achieve clean and elegant side and bottom construction • Maintain its shape when carried and when partially empty • Properly support the handle and custom hardware • Incorporate an elegant rear opening with concealed magnetic closure We need the designer to determine the appropriate pattern construction, internal reinforcement, leather thicknesses and assembly method to achieve the design successfully. Scope of Work The selected designer will: • Develop production-ready handbag patterns • Engineer the internal structure and reinforcement • Develop the side/gusset and bottom construction • Engineer the rear opening and concealed magnetic closure • Develop the handle construction and reinforcement • Integrate our separately developed custom hardware • Specify leather, lining and reinforcement thicknesses • Define skiving, stitching and edge-finishing requirements • Provide assembly guidance for the non-standard structural elements • Support reasonable revisions following prototype/factory feedback Deliverables • Production-ready handbag patterns supplied in DXF and 1:1 PDF • Dimensioned technical/construction drawings • Reinforcement, skiving, stitching, edge-finishing and hardware-placement specifications • BOM/material specifications • Assembly guidance for the bag's non-standard structural elements • All native/editable working files 3D CAD files are desirable if they are part of your normal development process, but practical leather-goods construction and pattern-making expertise is the priority. Ideal Candidate We are specifically looking for experience in: • Luxury handbags and leather goods • Handbag pattern making • Structured or semi-structured bags • Sculptural forms, complex curves and gussets • Leather reinforcement and construction • Prototype development • Preparing production files for handbag factories This is not a graphic design or rendering project. You should understand how a handbag is physically patterned, reinforced, assembled and manufactured. When Applying Please provide: 1. Examples of handbags or leather goods you have personally developed for manufacturing 2. Photos of finished physical samples produced from your technical work, where available 3. Examples of technical drawings or patterns 4. The software you use for handbag pattern/CAD development 5. Your experience working directly with handbag factories 6. Your estimated timeline and fixed-price quote Please also briefly explain how you would approach maintaining a sculptural curved handbag shape while keeping the finished product lightweight, functional and luxurious. Please begin your proposal with “STRUCTURE 01” so we know you have read the brief. Confidentiality & IP The handbag and custom hardware designs are proprietary. The selected designer will be required to sign an NDA and IP agreement before receiving the complete design package. The approved exterior design, proportions and signature design elements must not be changed without prior approval. All project-specific patterns, technical drawings and manufacturing files created under the engagement must be provided as editable source files.