WORKSHOP · PROJECT P·01 · OUTDOOR SOURCE OUTDOOR · 2022→ON STATUS · HEAD OF QUALITY & INNOVATION
FILE · SRC-01 ROLE · IN-HOUSE
YEAR · 2022→26
Industrial design · Hydration · In-house

SOURCE
Hydration Line.

An in-house design role with one of the world's leading outdoor hydration brands. Designer & project manager since 2022; Head of Quality & Innovation since 2026.

Brand
SOURCE Outdoor
Years
2022 → ongoing
Roles
Designer · PM · Head of Quality & Innovation
Discipline
ID · DFM · CMF · R&D
Status
In-house

An in-house seat at one of the world's leading hydration brands.

SOURCE has been making hydration systems for mountaineers, hikers, and military teams since 1989. The brand has been Amit's professional home since 2022 — first as designer and project manager, running end-to-end design and development from brief and concept to production handoff and serial manufacturing; from 2026 as Head of Quality & Innovation, leading the company's quality and innovation department.

The work spans the hydration line and adjacent product categories — bladders, closures, hardware, packs — and connects industrial design to manufacturing partners and the field at the same time. Specific projects across this seat are documented under separate cases (CUBE In-Frame Hydration, Gobi 2.0).

[TBD — Amit to expand on specific in-house deliverables he wants to highlight, and which can be shown publicly versus kept under brand confidentiality.]

№ 02 · process

Brief to factory floor.

Five stages · 01→05
01 · BRIEF

Discover

Field interviews with users — hikers, soldiers, mountain rescue. Existing line audits.

02 · DEVELOP

Sketch & CAD

Closure mechanism, bite valve, fill geometry. Hand models before printed parts.

03 · ENGINEER

DFM & CMF

Tooling-friendly geometry, food-grade materials, colour for visibility in pack.

04 · MANUFACTURE

Serial production

Tooling iterations with the supplier; production handoff; serial manufacturing.

05 · QUALITY

Quality & innovation

Since 2026, leading the department — quality across the existing line and innovation for what's next.

№ 04 · on the process

Manufacturer in the loop, from day one.

The process moved through research, concept, CAD, prototyping, CMF, and DFM — with the manufacturer in the loop from early concept on, so each detail could be checked against tooling reality.

That kept the studio honest. There is no design that survives only on a screen; the geometry has to lift off the mould without a snag, the bite valve has to seat without leak, the colour has to come out the same in the third batch as in the first.

[TBD: specific notes — moments where the design changed, decisions that defined the line, what the manufacturer flagged.]