WHY DESIGN?

What if the candidate who looks perfect on paper is exactly the one you shouldn't hire?
Eight Season 4 guests, from a bike brand to an industrial giant to three small hardware studios, keep landing on the same answer from completely different directions. The flawless CV, the fixed job spec, and the polished portfolio are the least reliable signal in the room.
What actually predicts a good hire is fit, curiosity, and how someone handles a question they weren't ready for, whether that's a new hire asking what to do, a job title that almost puts the right person off applying, or a founder telling a candidate outright that the business isn't for them.
Join the Why Design community to keep this conversation going, and to hear how other hiring managers in physical product are solving the same problem.
This episode is sponsored by Vax and TTi Floorcare. Kodu, is running the hiring. Recruiting for Vax for more than ten years, placing over fifty people including a VP of Engineering and a Head of Design. We know how they build. Right now they’re rebuilding their UK engineering and innovation function from the ground up: advanced development, design engineering and industrial design, all at once. We haven’t seen them move at this pace in a decade of working with them.

What You'll Learn
🔍 Why the candidates who look imperfect on paper often make the better hire.
🗣️ How to spend most of an interview on the person, not the portfolio.
🧩 Why building a team around available talent beats writing a fixed job spec.
🏷️ What one wrong word in a job title does to your candidate pool.
🧭 Why independence matters more than hand holding on a small team.
🎯 How to spot the fit that actually predicts whether someone stays.
⚙️ Why a specialist hire is sometimes worth more than a confident generalist.

Memorable Quotes
"It's the grit in the oyster that creates the pearl." Will Butler-Adams, Brompton (S4E06).
"If you knew, you wouldn't be hiring that." Will Butler-Adams, Brompton (S4E06).
"That tends to be a unicorn every time." Tylan Tschopp, Westinghouse (S4E08).
"What happens if you didn't have this role?" Rich Thrush, Guitar Center (S4E03).
"I'm not gonna hold anyone's hand, I'm not gonna micromanage." Paul Marshall, Rapid Fluidics (S4E07).
"Maybe our kind of business is not for you." Paul Metaxatos, Motive Design (S4E09).

Newlane : https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E1
Guitar Center: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E3
FutureWave: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E4
Diplik: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E5
Brompton Bicycles: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E6
Rapid Fluidics: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E7
Westinghouse: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E8
Motive Design: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S4E9
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon - https://whydesign.club/
👥 Join the Why Design community - https://teamkodu.com/whydesign/
📸 Follow @whydesign on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/why.design_/
📸 Follow @_whydesign on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@_whydesign
📸 Follow @kodurecruitment on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kodurecruitment/
🔗 Follow Chris Whyte on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte/

About the Episode
Why the Perfect CV Is the Wrong Hire, A Why Design Guide on Hiring (SN 4 Recap) is a Season 4 compilation episode of Why Design, the podcast hosted by Chris Whyte, founder of Kodu. Each episode brings together founders, engineers, and design leaders working at the frontier of physical product to talk honestly about what it takes to build hardware teams that ship.
About Kodu
Kodu is the specialist recruitment partner for hardware and deep tech teams. We place industrial designers, mechanical engineers, and product development leaders in companies building physical products, from medtech and consumer hardware to robotics and mobility. We work with founding teams and global R&D organisations alike, and we understand what great looks like in the room, not just on paper. NPS: +92.
teamkodu.com

What does it actually sound like when someone can tell you, precisely, why their work matters?
In this compilation of Why Design, fourteen hardware founders, designers, and engineers answer that question, not with a mission statement, but with the specific moment it became true for them: a phone call, a diaper emergency, a chant they refused to join, a sketch a surgeon recognised overnight, a research grant into safety on public transport, a young designer finally seeing herself represented.
This is not a highlight reel of ambition. It is a collection of the moments where mission stopped being declared and started being lived, including the discomfort of staying yourself inside an institution that wants you to become it, and the daily discipline of sustaining purpose once the launch is long over.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign

What You'll Learn
📞 Why a phone call from a hospital bed told one founder her product was finally real
🔋 Why 28 million UK homes have never been designed for by the home battery industry
🤖 Why automation grew one company from 2,000 to 22,000 employees instead of shrinking it
🚻 How a diaper emergency in a piercing shop became the origin story of a company
🚆 What a research grant and a masters course have to do with safety for women and girls on public transport
🎤 Why one executive chanted his own name instead of his employer's, in front of 400 people
🧭 Why the future you set out loud is, according to one investor, the future you actually get

Memorable Quotes
"I want to try again."
"I am Bob. I am Bob."
"The future that you set is the now that you get."
"Use our expertise for good."
"I will be the last person to get money."
"If we stop developing hardware, we're ghosts."

Links & Connect
Béa Fertility: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E1

Automata: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E2

Tympany Medical: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E3

Windfall Energy: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E4

Fieldwork Robotics: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E5

Koroyd: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E6

Phil Stauton: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E7

Instrument Industries: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E8

Flush-Locks: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E9

Bob Schwartz: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E10

Longbow Motors: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E11

iF Design ifdesign.com: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E12

Bill Liao: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E13

PARK: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E14

PENSA: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E15

Studio Fynn: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E16

Priestman Goode: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E19

Studio Wood: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E18

Kohler Mira: https://www.whydesign.club/episodes/S5E19

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon - https://whydesign.club/

👥 Join the Why Design community - https://teamkodu.com/whydesign/

📸 Follow @whydesign on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/why.design_/

📸 Follow @_whydesign on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@_whydesign

📸 Follow @kodurecruitment on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kodurecruitment/

🔗 Follow Chris Whyte on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte/

What does AI actually do to the people building the physical world around you?
In this compilation of Why Design, ten hardware practitioners share the belief that sits at the heart of good AI use: it is a tool for someone who already knows what good looks like, not a replacement for knowing.
Rather than accepting AI hype at face value, these guests interrogate it from inside real hardware work: robotics, medical devices, industrial design, investment, and recruitment. That interrogation led to some of the most honest, occasionally contradictory, moments the show has recorded on the subject.
This conversation is not about whether AI is good or bad. It is about who stays in the loop when it is used well, and what gets lost when nobody does.
Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
Why an SOSV investor believes AI is not like any other tool, and what a hammer teaches you that AI does not
How a field robotics team turned every operational anomaly into training data instead of a disaster
Why one engineer's rule is: if you can write the problem in a prompt, you have already solved it
What a real executive AI mandate looks like from inside a design team, with no training and no plan
Why large language models are structurally built to find the average, and what that costs inclusive design
Why the expert-in-the-loop principle is the one rule almost every guest agrees on
Memorable Quotes
"It fundamentally makes you a little bit dumber when you use it most of the time."
"My problem is it's scary believable rather than scary accurate."
"If I can write it in a prompt, I've solved the problem."
"That's a terrible creative brief."
"LLMs are just massive heuristic engines. They're like a pachinko machine on the scale of the solar system."
Resources & Links
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon → whydesign.club
👥 Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
📸 Follow @why.design_ on Instagram
🎥 Watch full episodes → YouTube.com/@whydesignpod
🔗 Follow Chris Whyte → linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte
About the Episode
Why Design is powered by Kodu, a specialist recruitment partner for the hardware and physical product development industry.
Through honest conversations with designers, engineers and creative leaders, we explore not just what they build, but why they build it: the beliefs, decisions and responsibility behind meaningful work.
About Kodu
Why Design is produced by Kodu, a recruitment partner for ambitious hardware brands, design consultancies and product-led start-ups.
We help founders and leadership teams hire exceptional talent across industrial design, mechanical engineering and product leadership, bringing structure and clarity to one of the hardest parts of scaling.
🔗 Learn more → teamkodu.com

This episode is sponsored by Vax and TTi Floorcare. Kodu, is running the hiring. Recruiting for Vax for more than ten years, placing over fifty people including a VP of Engineering and a Head of Design. We know how they build. Right now they’re rebuilding their UK engineering and innovation function from the ground up: advanced development, design engineering and industrial design, all at once. We haven’t seen them move at this pace in a decade of working with them.

What does it take to go from a one-way ticket to London with no job, to a seat on the board of one of the UK's best known bathroom manufacturers?
In this episode of Why Design, Alba Bayona shares the belief that sits at the heart of her work: that curiosity is what actually builds a design career, and that leadership only works once you stop pretending you can be good at everything, all the time.
Rather than settle into one discipline early, Alba built her own jewellery brand alongside a full time design job. That decision led to one of the hardest calls of her career, closing it down, and one she has since come to see as brave rather than as a failure.
This conversation isn't about job titles.
It's about what it actually costs, and gives back, to build a career and a family in an industry that still doesn't have enough visible role models for either.
Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
🧭 Why Alba Bayona prefers “work-life sway” to “work-life balance”
🚿 How one design team at Kohler Mira builds for three completely different users across Mira Showers, RADA and Recoup
✈️ Why a one-way ticket to London, with almost no money and little English, became the turning point in her career
🧵 What it took to walk away from her own jewellery brand, and why she no longer calls that decision a failure
🪑 How leaving your functional hat at the door changes what design contributes in the boardroom
👩‍🎨 Why the design industry still struggles to keep and promote female talent, and what more visible role models could change

Memorable Quotes
“I've discovered a term I much prefer called work-life sway.”
“Calling it sway gives you a little bit of forgiveness of like actually that I'm swaying, I'm not balanced.”
“There was bravery in admitting that I couldn't do it all.”
“I think 99% of the times that you follow your gut, you will be right.”
“Motherhood shouldn't be a hindrance, should be something that actually helps them gain incredible leadership skills anyway.”
Resources & Links
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon → whydesign.club
👥 Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
📸 Follow @whydesign on Instagram
🎥 Watch full episodes → YouTube.com/@whydesignpod
🔗 Follow Chris Whyte → linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte
🔗 Explore Kohler Mira → https://www.mirashowers.co.uk/
🔗 Connect with Alba Bayona → https://www.linkedin.com/in/alba-bayona-68055874/
About the Episode
Why Design is powered by Kodu, a specialist recruitment partner for the hardware and physical product development industry.
Through honest conversations with designers, engineers and creative leaders, we explore not just what they build, but why they build it; the beliefs, decisions and responsibility behind meaningful work.
About Kodu
Why Design is produced by Kodu, a recruitment partner for ambitious hardware brands, design consultancies and product-led start-ups.
We help founders and leadership teams hire exceptional talent across industrial design, mechanical engineering and product leadership, bringing structure and clarity to one of the hardest parts of scaling.
🔗 Learn more → teamkodu.com

This episode is sponsored by Vax and TTi Floorcare. Kodu, is running the hiring. Recruiting for Vax for more than ten years, placing over fifty people including a VP of Engineering and a Head of Design. We know how they build. Right now they’re rebuilding their UK engineering and innovation function from the ground up: advanced development, design engineering and industrial design, all at once. We haven’t seen them move at this pace in a decade of working with them.

What does it actually cost to get into design if you don't come from money?
In this episode of Why Design, James Wood shares the belief that sits at the heart of Studio Wood: that good design should reach a million homes, not one art gallery, and that the studio building it should be just as accessible.
Rather than chase investment or fast growth, James chose to grow Studio Wood slowly, freelancing for six years before making his first hire. That decision led to a seven-person studio behind the Chilly's Series 2 bottle and the Joseph Joseph Draw Store, run on his own terms.
This conversation isn't about a design portfolio.
It's about who gets to build one in the first place.
Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
→ 🎓 Why Studio Wood lists a university degree as "nice to have," not essential, on every job ad.
→ 📵 Why the studio doesn't have a phone, and what that protects.
→ ✉️ Why every one of 350 applicants for one junior role got a personal reply, good news or bad.
→ 💷 Why James believes a plumbing apprentice can out-earn a design graduate carrying £50,000 to £60,000 of debt.
→ 🤖 How James is preparing his team for AI, and why physical model-making stays safe longer than digital design skills.
→ 🧭 What it actually takes to move out of the top or bottom of the income scale, according to the data James has read.
Memorable Quotes
"I don't think design should be for a few people. I'd rather design something that's in a million people's homes than in one art gallery."
"If you went and did the plumbing apprenticeship when you're eighteen, you'd make more money as a plumber than you would as an industrial designer with fifty, sixty grand of debt."
"If we start to lean too introverted, I'd probably be more inclined to look towards hiring someone who's extroverted."
"I always look for someone who's got their own engine. You're not having to go and constantly throw coal in their engine to get them going."
"All the strongest lessons in life come through hard times. You won't ever become a well-rounded person without some form of hardship."
6e. Resources & Links
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & Amazon
👥 Join the Why Design community
📸 Follow @whydesign on Instagram
🎥 Watch full episodes
🔗 Follow Chris Whyte
🔗 Explore Studio Wood
🔗 Connect with James Wood
About the Episode
Why Design is powered by Kodu, a specialist recruitment partner for the hardware and physical product development industry.
Through honest conversations with designers, engineers and creative leaders, we explore not just what they build, but why they build it: the beliefs, decisions and responsibility behind meaningful work.
About Kodu
Why Design is produced by Kodu, a recruitment partner for ambitious hardware brands, design consultancies and product-led start-ups.
We help founders and leadership teams hire exceptional talent across industrial design, mechanical engineering and product leadership, bringing structure and clarity to one of the hardest parts of scaling.