Pluspunten
- Exposure to retail design aesthetics and branding
- Insight into how luxury studios position themselves publicly
- Social perks and lunches, new policy of short Fridays
- An ok work life balance
- Great new location
Minpunten
- The workplace feels deeply unfair beneath a very polished surface. A lot of effort goes into optics and looking lexury design studio to impress the client and potential future employees, but much less into how people are actually treated.
- Promotions and leadership roles often seem to depend more on who you’re close to and family networking, your background, than actually on your skills, education, experience, or contribution.
- Opportunities are not given based on how good a designer you are and how much hard work you put in. Hard work alone doesn’t reliably lead anywhere.
- Diversity and inclusion feel more like a checkbox than something genuinely built into the company. Studio photos, marketing, and promotions are very curated and don’t reflect the wider team.
- There is very little racial diversity in senior, leadership, or client-facing roles.
- Many capable and knowledgeable people are overlooked, which can be incredibly demotivating and eventually affects creativity and the quality of the work.
- Pay often doesn’t match the workload, while a lot of money is spent on performative perks like client dinners, yoga, lunches, and social initiatives that don’t really benefit staff in meaningful ways.
- Insensitive comments or attitudes sometimes go unchallenged, which makes the environment uncomfortable if you don’t fit the dominant culture.
- HR has very limited power and feels more reactive than supportive or protective of employees.
Based on my current experience, I wouldn’t recommend this company to anyone looking for fair pay, merit-based progression, or a genuinely inclusive and respectful work environment.