WHY DESIGN?

What if the last 5% of craft you are chasing is the part your clients will never notice?
In this episode of Why Design, Tim Perry shares the belief that sits at the heart of his work: once you have cleared the quality bar, commercial skills make the biggest difference to your success. He has seen it from both sides, from designing the Fairy Liquid bottle to running design strategy at Nokia and growing a packaging consultancy to around 100 people.
Rather than stay on the tools, Tim chose to learn how to bring work in. That decision led to promotions, a partnership, the sale of the business, and the training he now runs for designers who find themselves facing clients without ever being taught how.
This conversation isn't about sales tricks. It's about the side of design that decides who gets the work.
This is a condensed re-cut of our 2025 conversation, recorded live at Blue Garage in Lewisham.
Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
🎯 Why chasing the last 5% of craft rarely moves the needle with clients
📊 What a LinkedIn poll of designers revealed about what clients actually notice
🧴 How designing the Fairy Liquid bottle meant shaving fractions of a cent at huge scale
🪟 Why taking the products off the shelves got clients buying strategy
🤝 How bringing in work took Tim from designer to running the consultancy
✋ What one firm no taught Tim about negotiating with clients

Memorable Quotes
“I've yet to meet anybody who likes being sold to, right? Nobody likes it.”
“My design education had not prepared me for this side of business at all.”
“We had plastic bottles on glass shelves with spotlight shining on them like they were museum pieces.”
“people will keep on asking and asking and asking until they hear a firm no.”
“It's actually augmenting that with commercial skills.”
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
🔗 Explore TP Consulting
🔗 Connect with Tim Perry
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.
Mentioned in this episode:
VAX

What if the decision that sinks your hardware startup is one nobody remembers making?
In this episode of Why Design, Sera Evcimen shares the belief that sits at the heart of her work: most hardware failures are predictable, and the people who talk honestly about their mistakes are the ones others can actually learn from.
Rather than staying on one company's payroll, Sera chose to move through startup after startup, from CubeSats to fusion to robotics, and then to go in alongside founders as a hands-on partner. That decision led to Pratik, The Builder Circle podcast and a hardware community that now spans Boston and London.
This conversation isn't about startup statistics.
It's about the hidden chain reaction between a product decision, a hiring decision and a company strategy.
Think of it as the highlights reel. Same conversation, fewer detours, every point that still matters.
Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
🏭 Why your first operations hire ends up choosing your manufacturing strategy for you
🔧 How the in-house decision gets made by accident, one purchase at a time
🧭 What hardware-savvy VCs respect in founders who name their own risks
🗺️ How to map skills to build milestones before you write a job description
⚙️ Why tribology explains so many gearbox and bearing failures
🤝 What actually works for engineers who find networking uncomfortable

Memorable Quotes
"If you hire too early, it will basically make the decision for you in a way."
"There's no such thing as bad PR. When you're a startup there is."
"I always joke that I'm the happiest when I'm crawling on the floor of a factory floor."
"Community is the lifeline for hardware."
"I would say focus more on being interested than interesting."
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
🔗 Explore Pratik → pratikdev.com
🔗 Connect with Sera Evcimen → linkedin.com/in/seraevcimen
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
Sponsor
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.

Why would Airbus bring in three guys in a shed at the bottom of somebody's garden?
In this episode of Why Design, Nick Ford shares the belief that sits at the heart of his work: that a small, curious team brought in at exactly the point where others get stuck will outperform a bigger one, provided it is willing to break things to learn.
Rather than following an academic route into design, Nick chose the shop floor of a racing engine company, broom in hand, asking questions until the machinists taught him their jobs. That decision led to museum exhibits, an insolvency, Pipsqueak, more than a thousand jobs, and a tool Airbus uses to fit engines to wings.
This conversation isn't about a career path. It's about choosing who you work for, and what you are prepared to say no to.
Don't just listen. Go beyond the podcast.
Join the Why Design community → teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
🚛 Why Nick drove a 32 ton lorry over his own prototype, on purpose
🧹 How a cleaner with too many questions learned every machinist's job
🏗️ Why big engineering firms hand their £10k jobs to a tiny studio
✈️ What Airbus needed that only three guys in a shed could deliver
💷 How Patent Box can cut corporation tax on patent profits to 10%
🎓 What happens when a design studio commits to work experience for 18 years

Memorable Quotes
"But what I loved about being a cleaner is that I wasn't a threat to anyone."
"Children are the most constructive and the most destructive force known to man."
"And so it's very easy to be popular if you're selling pound coins for 50p."
"We are there to make our clients look good. period. If we can't do that, we are failing."
"if you don't understand IP, you don't understand business."
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
🔗 Explore Pipsqueak Developments → pipdev.co.uk
🔗 Explore Patent Ferret → patentferret.co.uk
🔗 Connect with Nick Ford → linkedin.com/in/nick-ford-ps

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
Mentioned in this episode:
VAX

This compilation pulls together four Season 4 guests, a CEO, two design and innovation leaders, and a design consultancy owner, on where AI genuinely helps a hardware or design business: faster prototyping, a levelled playing field for smaller teams, a design process that runs like a loop. Every one of them also draws a line around what they're not ready to hand over: sketching, hiring judgement, the discipline to not chase every shiny new tool.
This is a short cut, roughly three and a half minutes, because that's the honest amount of verified, on-topic AI material Season 4 actually contains. No trailer, no host narration. Just four guests, in their own words.
Join the Why Design community to keep the conversation going: teamkodu.com/whydesign
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. Planning to interview for them with us? Here is what you need to know: VAX UK
What You'll Learn in this episode:
🔓 Why AI and cheaper design tools have removed the innovation monopoly that big organisations used to hold
✏️ Why an EVP of Industrial Design still won't hire on sketching skill alone if it's been replaced by an AI tool
🔁 What generative design looks like when a team, not software, runs the iteration loop
📈 Why a design consultancy owner treats the current AI moment like the dot-com era: worth testing, not worth betting the business model on
🚩 Why a CV or an application that reads as AI-polished can be a red flag rather than a strength

Memorable Quotes
"That has gone. You can design, prototype, innovate." — Will Butler-Adams OBE, Brompton
"If you can't communicate by sketching, that's a huge disadvantage." — Tylan Tschopp, Westinghouse
"It isn't chat GBT and it's got some left-of-field odd things in it." — Will Butler-Adams OBE, Brompton
"It reminds me of the dot com days." — Paul Metaxatos, Motive Design
"It's working as a full organism where people don't fight for your idea." — Joachim, FutureWave
Resources & Links
🎙️ Why Design podcast: whydesign.club
👥 Join the community: teamkodu.com/whydesign
📸 Instagram: @whydesignxkodu
▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@whydesignpod
💼 Chris Whyte: linkedin.com/in/mrchriswhyte

About the Episode
AI Doesn't Replace the Craft | Why Design: AI is a 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 a specialist recruitment partner dedicated to physical product development.
We connect hardware brands and design consultancies with the very best design and engineering talent, from industrial designers and mechanical engineers to senior leaders across product, technology, and R&D.
Our clients range from well-funded start-ups and scale-ups under investor pressure to deliver, through to established businesses building serious hardware or innovation arms. They share a common challenge: they need to hire people who have actually built physical products before, and they cannot afford to get it wrong.
Average time-to-offer: 5 to 6 weeks on senior hardware roles. Retention at 12 months: 97%. All-time NPS: +92.
Learn more: teamkodu.com

What does two million pounds actually buy a hardware founder, and what does it cost?
This compilation pulls together nine Season 4 guests, founders, owners and senior leaders building physical products, on the money side of the business they don't usually put in the pitch deck: the near miss on running out of cash, the grant that only exists for companies younger than theirs, the licence that handed away creative control, and the acquisition or private ownership that bought speed a round never could.
No trailer, no host narration in this cut. Just nine guests, in their own words, on raising, not raising, and what it actually costs to keep control of what you built.
Join the Why Design community to keep the conversation going: teamkodu.com/whydesign
What You'll Learn
💸 Why raising too much too early can do more damage than raising too little
📉 How one bad round pushed a bike brand to sell at a loss until it went bust
📝 What a public grant's age rules can cost a growing hardware company
😴 Why staying debt-free changes how a founder sleeps at night
🤝 How an acquisition can hand a small business resources no round can match
©️ What licensing an invention actually costs a designer in creative control
💰 Why revenue generation from day one is a deliberate alternative to raising
⚡ How private ownership lets a leadership team commit fully instead of stopping and starting

Memorable Quotes
"Soon you're a puppet.", Paul Metaxatos, Motive Design
"It wouldn't work. No, it just wouldn't work. We're too long term.", Will Butler-Adams OBE, Brompton
"Really the fundraise is just ridiculous.", Joachim, FutureWave
"I'm not eligible anymore to this public funding.", Remi, Diplik / Bitpong
"This is my main job now, albeit one with zero salary.", Paul Marshall, Rapid Fluidics
"We've got to grow to survive. That's how a business survives, is risk by growth.", Paul Marshall, Rapid Fluidics

Resources & Links
🎧 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
The Money Side of Hardware | Why Design: Investment and Fundraising is a 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 a specialist recruitment partner dedicated to physical product development.
We connect hardware brands and design consultancies with the very best design and engineering talent, from industrial designers and mechanical engineers to senior leaders across product, technology, and R&D.
Our clients range from well-funded start-ups and scale-ups under investor pressure to deliver, through to established businesses building serious hardware or innovation arms. They share a common challenge: they need to hire people who have actually built physical products before, and they cannot afford to get it wrong.
Average time-to-offer: 5 to 6 weeks on senior hardware roles. Retention at 12 months: 97%. All-time NPS: +92.