Private Label · Home & Garden · S/S 2026
Summer 2026 Capsule: Pond
A soft gifting collection built around quiet summer moments, small joys, and the charm of pond life. The collection mixes playful character planters with more elevated ceramic pieces, creating a balance between impulse buys and keepsake gifts.
ROLE
Trend Research, Concept, Collection & Surface Design, CMF
BRIEF
Private Label
TIMELINE
2-week sprint
01 RESEARCH
The trend, the
direction & the brief
THE TREND
I started with the feeling people are searching for: comfort, calm and a small escape from daily noise. Pond gave me a way to turn that feeling into product. A lily pad, a frog or a water flower can hold a whole summer mood without needing a big garden story.
THE DIRECTION
The direction shifts the cottage garden into a softer riverbank world. I wanted water greens, rounded lily pad forms, lotus inspired blooms and tiny characters. The range needed calm pieces for gifting and easy pick up pieces with personality.
BACKGROUND
Built as an open private label line, the collection had to work across home, garden and gift channels. I designed it so it could transition from a calm shelf display to a more playful summer table. From trend read to a rendered, sample ready collection in a two week sprint.
+15.8%
YoY searches for "creative craft" — Google Trends
+31%
Search growth for garden pond supports ponds as both visit and home references
+23%
Rising searches for lily pad point to a clear botanical cue for the collection
02 MOOD & MATERIALS
A palette from water's edge
03 IDEATION & SKETCHING
From a tiny pond world to a retail collection
I kept the frogs as the impulse moment because they are easy to understand at first glance. I treated them as a small character family: the same friendly body, then small changes in colour, wings, cheeks and feet. That keeps the idea affordable to extend and easy to merchandise together.
To balance the playful pieces, I added calmer ceramic forms with scalloped rims, beaded edges and flower details. These pieces bring the more giftable, decorative side of the story, so the range does not feel only like a novelty collection.
Frog characters / 3 core colours + seasonal special
Stoneware silhouettes / Scalloped · fluted · beaded
Surface motif / Lily pad · clover · daisy
04 PROTOTYPES & SAMPLES
Testing shape, glaze
and shelf appeal
Once the design direction is set, the work moves from concept into production development. I send the drawings, renders, colour notes and finish references to the team in China, then coordinate with the factories through the mould stage. At this point I advise on every detail, from shape and proportions to face placement, glaze finish and shelf presence, so the samples stay true to the original design before I approve them for mass production.
DESIGN HANDOVER
Sending the full design package to China, with drawings, renders, colour references and notes that explain the feeling each piece needs to keep.
MOULD STAGE
Working with the team and factories while the moulds are built, checking proportions, openings, feet, rim details and character features before sampling moves forward.
FINAL APPROVAL
Reviewing the bisque, glaze tests and shelf appeal, giving corrections where needed, and approving the pieces for mass production once they match the design intent.
05 FINAL COLLECTION
A small pond world for retail
FLORAL STONEWARE — THE CONSIDERED GIFT
FROGS WITH TILLANDSIA — IMPULSE BUY
FROGS Ø6 — IMPULSE BUY
METAL PLANTERS — MID-RANGE DESIGNS
05 FINAL COLLECTION