Chilli Pepper Designs has rapidly gained a reputation for excellence in the visual representation of architecture, interiors and exteriors, furniture and the built environment – so much so that it scooped both Best CGI Visualisation/Website Provider and Best Newcomer in this year's Readers' Choice Awards …
When the first lockdown struck and his product imagery ran dry, Indesign Furniture’s Neil Buckley-Jensen (pictured) responded with typical vigour, pivoting his furniture design and manufacturing operation to encompass CGI marketing services. Less than a year on, Chilli Pepper Designs is one of the top CGI companies in the business, and already counts some of the largest global brands among its clients.
Neil says there are plenty of reasons to embrace digital product visualisation, pointing out that it gives sellers unparalleled flexibility in how they present their goods online, and can prove cheaper than traditional photography in the long term.
Yet with the entire industry confronted with massive supply chain disruption, CGI marketing’s most valuable ability has truly come to the fore. “You can lose weeks on a photoshoot,” says Neil, speaking to Furniture News from his office in Bexhill, East Sussex. “That’s not to mention the time spent travelling to factories, developing prototypes, inspecting them, making the product, shipping it, promoting it to the trade and displaying in-store, all while fretting about how popular it’ll prove. In all, you could be waiting 6-9 months just hoping something works.”
Neil brings extensive industry experience to the mix, having managed his own cabinet brand, Indesign Furniture, which supplies wholesalers in the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. While reaching out to potential overseas prospects, Neil discovered that buyers were increasingly willing to place orders based on high-quality product renders alone, and so began exploring CGI to circumvent his own in-house roadblocks. Consequently, nationwide lockdown sharpened his focus, and Chilli Pepper Designs was born.
“Right now, people are looking for pipeline products, and our technology offers a bridge from concept to sample creation in less than two weeks,” says Neil, “without the costs (and carbon footprint) usually associated with the development of new ranges.
“CGI enables suppliers to leapfrog the back-and-forth associated with traditional product development. With Chilli Pepper Designs, new products can be visualised, tweaked, and run past key stakeholders in a matter of days, while – or even before – they are being made. With material supplies, shipping, exhibitions and bricks-and-mortar retail all smarting from the Covid-19 effect, CGI is a powerful antidote right now.
“In less than a year, Chilli Pepper Designs has gone from concept to creation and picked up two prestigious awards, as voted for by Furniture News’ readers – 2021’s Best CGI Visualisation/Website Provider and Best Newcomer. My thanks and gratitude to everyone who voted for us – get in touch if we can help out in any way!”
Read about the winners of Furniture News' inaugural Readers' Choice Awards in August's issue.
