Before you talk to a factory
You have a character, and a plan to have it made. Between those two things sits a set of decisions most people make only once, with no way of knowing whether they got them right. This is where those decisions get made properly, before they start costing you money.
Where projects lose money
A design that works on screen does not always survive a mould
Undercuts that add tooling. Walls too thin to hold their shape. A part count that quietly doubles the cost of the mould. Fine detail that disappears at the size you actually want to produce. None of it shows up while the piece is still a drawing or a render. It shows up when you are already talking to a factory, and by then changing it is expensive.
Then there is the factory relationship itself. Minimums, tooling charges, sampling rounds, lead times, and knowing which of those numbers can move and which cannot. It is a straightforward conversation once you have had it many times. The first time, it is not.
Who you would be working with
Karmieh Designer Toys
A studio in Brasov, Romania, run by Oasim Karmieh, with twenty five years designing toys and collectibles and ten years taking pieces through production, from short runs of ten to runs of five hundred and above. The studio works with a manufacturing partner in Hong Kong.
The work covers both halves of this: the design itself, and the part where a drawing becomes an object a factory can actually make. See a project from concept through to production.
25+Years designing toys
10+Years in production
10 to 500+Units per run
Karmieh Design SRL is registered inside the EU.
Three ways to work
Pick the one that matches where you are
Production review€500One written assessment
You send the design, the size you want it made at, the material you have in mind and roughly how many pieces you are planning. I go through it and send back a written assessment: what will survive manufacture and what will not, which process suits the piece, where the cost is going to sit, and what to change before you approach anyone.
Delivered as a written document. This level does not include the factory introduction.
Most people need this oneProduction support€1,500Through to placing the order
Everything in the review, then a call to go through it together and answer whatever it raises. After that comes the part that matters most: a direct introduction to the Hong Kong manufacturer, and someone on your side while you deal with them. I help you read the quote, understand the minimums and the tooling charges, and work through sampling until you are ready to place the order.
Runs alongside your project over two months rather than arriving as a single delivery.
Full production managementQuotedSet per project
For a larger run, or a brand that would rather not carry this internally. I hold the factory relationship end to end, from the first quote through tooling and sampling to the finished run leaving Hong Kong, and you stay with your own work.
Scope and price are agreed once I have seen the project.
Worth being clear about
What this does not cover
The production run itselfTooling, moulds, units and packaging are quoted and paid directly with the factory. Nothing there is marked up through me.
Moulds and toolingNot made in the studio. That is factory work, and it belongs with the people who do it every day.
3D printing on its ownOnly pieces sculpted here are printed here. For one off prints of your own files, a print bureau will serve you better.
Design and sculptingA separate service. If you commission the character here, production consulting and the factory introduction are already part of it.
Getting started
Tell me about the project
Send me what you have and I will tell you which of these fits, or whether you need any of it at all. Four things make that a much faster answer:
- The design, or the reference images you are working from
- The size you want the finished piece to be, in centimetres
- The material you have in mind, if you have got that far
- Roughly how many pieces you are planning to make
