Why Custom Furniture?
In a time when fast furniture is abundant and it is relatively easy and inexpensive to find furniture that is made in other parts of the world and shipped to your door, the question is: Why go custom?
I have the privilege of working with wonderful clients year in and year out. Together we make ideas come to life, solve design problems in their homes, and bring beautiful pieces of furniture into the world. I work in a shop with 5 other furniture makers and I can’t help but notice that the demographic of all of our clients its fairly homogenous. Many people may not realize custom furniture is an option, and let me tell you, no matter where you are in the US (probably wherever you are in the world), custom furniture is an option and always worth the price.
Get What You Really Want
Custom Furniture is whatever you want it to be. You don't need to pick from a few sizes and hope it looks ok, get stuck with a color or finish that is not quite right, or settle for inadequate use of space. When you go custom you are working together with a designer and craftsperson to find the style, materials, and utility that you want in a piece of furniture. We craftspeople love taking on challenges and problem solving. I think you would have a hard time finding a furniture maker who wouldn’t say that problem solving is the best part of the job. So if you want a high-gloss, fire-engine-red round desk with 6 drawers and a secret compartment, you most definitely can have it!
Cost
You might be out there thinking custom furniture is at an unattainable price point and for some that is the case. I won’t pretend custom work can be found at the same price points as Ikea products. Another way of looking at it, however, is by setting priorities and thinking of it as an investment in your home. While some people have the money to buy custom pieces without breaking a sweat, that is not the case for the majority. Custom furniture is not something you buy on a whim, it should be something you love and are fully committed to for your space or lifestyle. It’s common to save up for something like this. Find a maker you are inspired by, start a conversation, think about exactly what you want in a piece, and start saving. Custom also comes in all kinds of price points. Maybe you can't afford a dining table right now. Maybe all you can afford right now is a tray or a mirror or a side table. Custom pieces are built to last throughout your lifetime and for generations to come. We see people with trendy perfect homes on social media everyday and wish our house looked perfectly on trend, but trends change. You don’t need everything to be of the moment, and a well-designed, well-built custom piece never really goes out of style. You can start to build a collection of furniture now with a single piece that speaks to you and tells the story of your life and your family.
Support Local
When you decide to buy a custom piece of furniture you are not only supporting your local craftsperson, you are supporting a community of local businesses. For me to make a finished piece of furniture means buying wood from a small one-man lumber milling and drying operation south of the twin cities, buying doors and drawers from a company in Ham Lake, MN, getting hinges, drawer slides, sand paper and all the other essentials from a distributor in St Cloud, hiring out a spray finisher in Northeast Minneapolis, and getting install help from my friend who is a part-time installer / part-time potter.
Thinking of our Earth
“What you make from a tree should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down.”
- Overstory by Richard Powers
No piece of furniture is as miraculous as a living tree but fine furniture made by a skilled craftsperson may come as close as we can to doing the tree justice. Making furniture from local woods that are not being shipped around the world is much friendly to our environment. By making furniture that is sturdy, well-engineered, and built correctly from solid wood or quality veneer we are making furniture that will last for generations.
Have you bought custom furniture in the past? What was your experience like? If you haven’t, does it sounds like something you’d be interested in? Are there any reasons to go custom or not that I didn’t mention? I’d love to hear from you!