Building a high-performing design function to support The Cotswold Company’s ecommerce growth

Our recruiters have supported furniture brand, The Cotswold Company, with a number of design recruitment requirements. Having worked with the Head of Brand in the past, they reconnected with Yasmin Vachet when they joined business to support emerging hiring needs.

This existing relationship enabled us to move quickly, initially delivering freelance support before progressing into permanent hires as the team evolved. 

Building a high-performing design function to support The Cotswold Company’s ecommerce growth

The story of The Cotswold Company

Founded in 1997, The Cotswold Company is a UK-based furniture and homeware brand, operating a growing ecommerce function alongside its in-store retail presence. 

At a key stage in its digital growth, the business was investing in strengthening its in-house creative and ecommerce capabilities to enhance brand positioning and drive online conversion performance. 

Challenge: Building a design capability in a geographically constrained market

The Cotswold Company were looking to elevate brand and conceptual design output and improve UX/UI and CRO performance across the ecommerce platform. To do this, they needed to engage designers.

However, the search presented clear challenges: 

  • The business is headquartered in Norfolk, limiting access to top-tier design talent 
  • Local candidate pools were both limited and highly competitive 
  • The roles required a rare blend of creative and digital product skillsets 
  • Direct sourcing efforts were not yielding candidates of the required calibre

With business-critical hires at stake, a broader and more strategic search approach was required. 

Solution: Specialist design recruitment support

We delivered a multi-layered search strategy, balancing local market coverage with national talent access.

Our approach included: 

  • Comprehensive mapping of local Norfolk-based design talent, ensuring full market coverage 
  • Parallel outreach to London-based designers, assessing openness to remote or hybrid models with periodic travel 
  • Structured management of a largely remote interview process, enabling efficient engagement across locations

This dual-market strategy allowed us to significantly expand the available talent pool, reassuring the hiring manager and talent team they had seen all top designers available. 

Result: Successful design hires to support business strategy

Yasmin successfully delivered multiple freelance and permanent hires, including a Copywriter, UX Designer and Senior Concept Designer. 

These hires have strengthened both the creative output and performance-driven design capability of the business. 

Teresa Buck, Head of Brand
Having worked with Yasmin on numerous occasions, her in-depth knowledge and passion for the design, digital and UX space really sets her apart. Always proactive, she quickly gets to the heart of a brief, unpicks any unforeseen challenges and has consistently found myself (and my peers) great talent. An experienced recruiter, refreshingly transparent and always positive, she’s genuinely a pleasure to work with and someone I continue to recommend.

Candidate Thought Count: 1

Hear from our successful candidates...

I've worked with Yasmin over the last 12 months and she has been a crucial part of my job search and success in securing a role. From start to finish Yasmin has been kind, consistent and open. Most importantly she understood what I wanted and needed from my next role and worked hard to find the right positions for me. I wouldn't hesitate to work with Yasmin again in the future and would happily recommend her to anyone on their job search.

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Michael Judkins Customer Experience & Growth Director

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