Name: Whitney Lundeen
City: palo alto
State: ca
Comment:
Hi Vicente,
I’ve always been amazed to see designers make a piece of furniture go from sketches to elevations to production.
I have recently created some furniture designs that I would like to have made, and hopefully some day sell. They are not only wood pieces, some are modern and made from molded plastics. Do you have any suggestions for where to start the process? Do you recommend any manufacturers?
Have you learned anything the hard way that you would be willing to share?
Your blog has become a favorite of mine.
Thank you,
Whitney
Vicente Responds:
Whitney, there are a lot of pitfalls in having furniture produced for yourself. First is the cost. Unless you’re planning on order large quantities, creating prototypes is expensive. Second is distribution and how you expose it to the public. Are you planning to sell to designers or retail? It took me a long time to fully understand how construction and the shortcuts one can take or the ones to be avoided works. You should investigate furniture and cabinet makers and upholsterers in your area and walk through their shops and see how things are made. If you don’t understand the construction process you cannot really bring your concept to a finished product. Start from the inside out and have lots and lots of patience.
Perhaps some of the readers would like to share their experiences in manufacturing here as well?
#1 by scone on September 1, 2010 - 1:54 pm
Working closely with small manufacturers is a lot of fun. Especially if you go a little further afield– boat builders, custom car shops, glass blowers, metal workers, and so on. The learning process is rewarding in itself, and these guys should be a little more patient than usual because of the recession. From their point of view, they are giving you free tuition in their methods and procedures, and they don’t want to get burned in return. For example, they don’t take kindly to people learning their business and then shopping around for the low bidder, or taking the work overseas. So you’ll probably have to pony up some cash, it’s only fair.
#2 by rob on September 2, 2010 - 1:34 am
scone..as a craftsman myself a 10 tutorial threw a shop and a couple of hints here and there are not going to give you much of an inside on how things are done..all these dyi shows and dyi apartmenttherapy postings are a far cry from the real thing.a craft is constant learning and perfecting your skill.yes it can be alot of fun but coming into a shop or talking to a good craftsman and trying to use the recession and taking your business overseas attitude will be picked up 2 minutes after you walk in the door,weve (as a trade myself furnituremaker)have been a dying bread for years and we do it for the love and the few people out there who can appreciate quality things and its obvious when your full of shit.