Sébastien Maleville

Creative director, industrial designer, brand strategist and environmental footprint consultant in Bangkok. I help manufacturers in Southeast Asia and around the world turn what they make into brands of their own, with less waste. I learned to make things in my grandfather’s workshop, and I’ve stayed close to the factory floor ever since.

See the work Write to me

Sébastien Maleville, smiling, in a black shirt against a grey studio backdrop. — **Fig. 1** Bangkok, 2022 · Co-founder, Essential Studio

ParisBeijingShenzhenShanghaiBangkok

Selected work

Products and brands from Lenovo, TCL, Jacob Jensen Design and Essential Studio. The credit line says where each was made and what I did.

JJD → Essential

Four frosted Divana reed diffusers with black reeds on a warm beige surface.

Phenomenon room fragrance

Divana · 2022–23 · Creative direction and product design

A room-fragrance collection in frosted glass, part of a nature-led refresh of a Thai spa brand.

Essential

Zerra

HLM · 2025–26 · Creative direction

A brand of its own for three decades of bio-based packaging, so choosing the sustainable option feels like an upgrade.

JJD → Essential

A render of the Cyberlock digital furniture lock on a white locker door: a black keypad with an orange end, an NFC mark and a fingerprint reader in the grip.

Digital locks

Cyberlock · 2023–24 · Creative direction

One design language across a family of digital locks, so they stand apart from low-cost lookalikes.

Lenovo

IdeaPad U160

Lenovo · 2010 · Design lead

One of five IdeaPad laptops I led, from first sketch to factory approval.

Red Dot · iF · German Design Award · G Mark · DEmark

All work

Three things, one job

Strategy, design and impact. Each falls short on its own, so I keep all three in the room. Take one away and see what’s left.

All three at once. That’s the job.

Strategy The brain

Users and customers count, and so do the business and the brand behind the product. Active listening, empathy, reading between the lines and planning each step with intention remain valuable human skills.

Design The hands

Start doing. An idea in the head has to exist quickly, on paper or in foam, so it can be sorted, developed or discarded, and tested early against what the factory can make. Design without manufacturing is nothing.