Freelance Art Director (Premium Lifestyle Retail)

Flagship Christmas 2026 Campaign | London Hybrid | 3 Months | Inside IR35

We’re recruiting a Freelance Art Director for a premium lifestyle and retail brand, supporting their flagship Christmas 2026 campaign.

This is a nuanced brief. The client is being highly specific about aesthetic alignment and will be shortlisting selectively.

Key details

• Start: ASAP
• Duration: 3 months
• Location: London (hybrid)
• Working pattern: 2 days on-site, 3 days remote
• IR35: Inside IR35 (umbrella)
• Day rate: £300 to £450 per day (via umbrella)

The creative world

Beyond seniority and experience, the client is looking for work that naturally reflects:

• Understated, timeless luxury
• Strong still life and interiors sensibility
• Editorial restraint, calm and refined, product-led storytelling
• Considered lighting, composition, and attention to detail
• Less overt concept, less fashion-led, more premium lifestyle retail

Relevant experience within luxury retail, home, interiors, gifting, fragrance, or heritage brands is a strong advantage.

What you’ll do

Depending on project needs, responsibilities may include:

• Owning and refining visual direction for seasonal and campaign outputs
• Developing art direction for still life and interior-led photography
• Creating clear guidance for shoot teams and post-production
• Partnering with internal brand, studio, and creative teams
• Ensuring consistency across asset families and customer touchpoints
• Maintaining a calm, premium brand feel across all deliverables

What we’re looking for

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Senior-level Art Direction with premium brand sensibility
• A portfolio showing still life and interiors at a high standard
• Strong taste and editing skills, with an ability to work within a defined brand world
• Confidence balancing craft with pace and commercial goals
• Ideally, experience across lifestyle retail, home, gifting, fragrance, or heritage brands

Portfolio request (important)

Because the client is being very specific, they have asked for a short, curated PDF as part of final aesthetic alignment.

Please compile a PDF featuring a few strong, relevant examples under each category:

1. Christmas gifting
2. Fragrance
3. Dining
4. Bedroom

This is not about creating new work. It is about editing and framing your existing work so it reads clearly through the brand lens.

Our client is an established premium British home and lifestyle retailer with a calm, refined, understated aesthetic. Neutral palettes, timeless styling, and product-led storytelling. Think quiet luxury rather than high concept.

A few examples per category is more than enough. Tight and intentional beats lots and varied.

How to apply

Please email the following to Dean Cousin at :

• Your CV
• Portfolio links
• Your curated PDF (or send links and we can convert to a tight PDF for you)
• Your availability (ASAP start)
• Your day rate (via umbrella)
• Confirmation of your right to work in the UK (British passport, or visa plus share code)

Email:

Note: This is a selective shortlist and the client is reviewing for very close aesthetic fit. The strongest aligned portfolios will move first.