Trend-driven 3D character & product designer — playful physical fashion item

We're building a small physical object people will touch every day, and a character that lives on it. Think: the crossover of a designer toy, a fashion accessory and a piece of tech — Bearbrick meets Crocs Jibbitz meets a Nike collab drop. Details are under NDA; we'll share the full brief after a short call. We need someone to invent the character, its attitude, its colors, and how the object itself becomes the brand — including 3D exploration of textures, fur, silhouettes and finishes. WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR A designer with taste, not a technician with software. We don't care which tools you use. We care that you know what's cool right now — what's on the shelves at Kith, what Jacquemus and Telfar just did, what characters people are putting on their bags, why some objects make you want to touch them. You follow trends, you have opinions, and you can explain the difference between cute and childish. You've probably done some of: designer toys or vinyl figures, streetwear or accessories, character/mascot design with personality, brand identity, product renders with strong art direction, motion or 3D for fashion or beauty brands. Not a fit: portfolios that are mainly CAD parts, architectural viz, generic corporate mascots, or "I can do any style." We want YOUR style. HOW TO APPLY (please read — we filter hard on this) Skip the cover-letter template. Instead: 1. Send 3 things you designed that you're proud of, and one sentence each on why. Not a whole portfolio link — three pieces you'd defend. 2. Show us one physical object (not yours) you think is perfectly designed right now, and tell us why in two lines. Could be a shoe, a bottle, a toy, a bag charm. 3. Answer: if a small object had to make a stranger smile in one second, what's the first thing you'd change about a normal product? Two lines max. Applications that don't include all three won't be read.