Quality Custom built furniture - is there any?

[baileyuph]

The times we are experiencing in new furniture is; stuff made off shore and most not meeting higher standards.Not too long ago, custom furniture was being built to impressive standards. at a slightly higher cost.

Is there anyone else specializing in custom quality built, perhaps the Amish?  I haven't reviewed their items, but hear it is strongly built and available at a price.

It would not be surprising if quality as discussed here would be hard to find.

Is there just not any market for it or is it a skill shortage?

Or possibly truly no market for it, not even among those who can afford.

If there is no market, understandable situation that our industry is where it is.

We used to hear the term cabinet maker and also wood joinery to a science level, but not much noise like that anymore.

I don't suppose there is any traces of wood expertise left in our schools (i.le. wood shop classes) much less trades schools supporting this specialty.

Too bad, it can be a very deep and gratifying study, learning about mortise and tenion joints, or dove tailing drawers, splining mitered corners and such in selected hardwood of choice.

That is what keyboards have moved to back stage.

Why all this, well I got an older piece to work on and it caused me to realize that we have lost something.

Is this perspective shared by most who work with furniture in some fashion?

Doyle 

[gene]

Yes. I don't know anyone who makes their living building custom furniture, or even doing custom woodworking. There are a few out there, but I think they are few and far between.

It seems to me that most people who do custom work have a pension or a wife/husband that works full time at a job that pays the bills etc.

Youtube's The Wood Whisperer has a lot of really informative videos. I bought my respirator after seeing his review of respirators. He has a video where he explains that he makes his money off of youtube and endorsements, not from custom woodworking.

gene

[SteveA]

There's a market but it's limited and only to the top percentage of earners that can afford it.  The rest are trying to compete with the mass produced furniture market.  I taught  adult education woodworking/finishing at night in the local high school for 6 years.  One day the moderator of the program came to me and said this was the last year since they were closing the shop because too many day time students were hurt using the tools.  I don't know how it is in other states but in NY parents will bring a law suit in a second - the result is that the quality of goods will have a hard time returning to the way it was years ago without craftsman
SA

[byhammerandhand]

Marc (Wood Whsiperer) said he used to be custom furniture maker, but found he could make money doing the video thing.

There's a guy in the woodworking club who is a professional woodworker.   I think most of his work these days is with his CNC and laser cutter doing production runs of things like custom beer taps.  He said once he used to be a social worker before he got into the business.   He says he didn't think there was any job that paid less than social work, but he found it.

When I got into business, I talked to a couple of people who had been in the custom business.   One's advice was "There are a whole bunch of ex-customer furniture makers out there paying off IRS debts."     That was enough for me.

Most of the top tier woodworkers that I know have left custom work and teach classes at various schools, write books and magazine articles, etc.

[otlass]

Interesting Questions you raised Doyle and I like to share my opinions on that topic.
I know there is a market for high quality custom upholstered furniture out there, and I think it is bigger than a lot of people think.


There are also quite a few companies who serve that market. (Jonas, Michael Smith, Edward Ferrell, Lewis Mittmann, Ralph Lauren come to mind, even Kravet builds decent stuff)
Right now I have a 10 year old English arm sofa here which is done all the traditional way with hand-tied springs all horse hair padding and down cushions, not a piece of foam in the whole sofa. I am sure that sofa retailed for $15 000.-

Skill shortage, this is a tough one for me to assess. I think there are still a lot of skilled upholsterers out there doing very nice work, but they are busy enough doing what they are doing and do not have the need to go after the market or self promotion is not their nature, and they get tuned out by some loud mouth who fails to deliver and hurts everyone.

If you think about it, the cost of star up for your own upholstery Business is very low. All you need is a sewing machine, a staple gun an air compressor and a few hand tools and a garage or basement to get going. Then you go out and charge 40% less than the established shop (because he charges what he charges to pay for his Bentley) turn out crappy work for 6 months realize it is not that easy and you disappear again. Leaving behind a customer with a crappy piece of furniture and the opinion there are no decent affordable upholsterers around.

It is not easy to get into that market, it is almost exclusively served by interior designers and architects (the end user does not want to waste his valuable time buying a sofa or picking fabric)and word of mouth.

Before I relocated we did about 90% custom furniture in of all places Montana (population maybe 900 000 people). Now here in Florida I am staring at the bottom again, nut I have learned that market is here as well and I know a year from now at least 50% of my sales will be custom stuff.

So be true to your self look at your strengths and advantages instead of what the other guy charges and refuse to join the race to the bottom. There will always be somebody who does it cheaper.

If price is your only argument, maybe you are not ready yet for your own gig and you should keep learning from an experienced shop. No, will not make more out on your own!

So Doyle I don't think it is lost, it is only harder to find in all the fluff.
And this is the most I have written since high school!

[chrisberry12]

There is no shortage of custom furniture here. I work with designers all over the states and the furniture they sell to their clients is mostly custom. I think it depends on where you are doing business depends on the exposure. Granted you will pay grandly for it though. There are also quite a few furniture companies still making high end furniture, Stickley, Harden, Lee just to name a few. Check out Holly Hunt for more custom and modern furniture. I work around cabinet makers all the time, these guys and gals are extremely talented. I just worked on two Holly Hunt chairs, the customer paid $5000.00 a chair. I see a problem with dewindling hardwood supplies out there so some companies are using high end 1.5" plywood with hardwood legs but they are also still using sewn horse hair and coil springs. So if you have clients that can not bear the price of new high end that is where we come in, more times then not the older furniture is built much better then new and that is how you sell your trade. So, I see no shortage in these trades

Chris

[Mojo]

Our own Mike is an amazing craftsman. He custom builds furniture, from the frame to the upholstery. He is truly one of the best I have seen.

Check out his videos sometime as he teaches how to do all kinds of things. Mike is also a great person which add's to his resume. I wished I could afford some of his pieces or have him custom make one for me.

His furniture I consider heirloom as it will be around for many generations to come. :)

Chris

[SteveA]

Chris
I agree - Mike is at the front of the class - looking forward to the next video !

SA

[Mojo]

I have a great deal of respect for Mike. His skill's are amazing and the quality he builds into each piece of furniture he makes is nearly unrivaled. I forgot what he uses for his framework but maple seems to be stuck in my memory.

He is an awesome guy and I am proud to call him a friend.

Chris

[bobbin]

How about Paul Downs?

His company made  a breathtaking sideboard for me.  It's gorgeous and exactly what I wanted!  I spent months sourcing "used" sideboards at auctions and resale shops.  The retail market offered nothing remotely close to what I needed/wanted...  What's the "real" cost of pre-ordering pieces in faraway (cheap labor) markets??  who "makes out best" when the offerings are so static?

I put my money where my mouth was, you guys.  I believe in our domestic furniture market and I hired it out reasonably locally; I couldn't be happier.  It's gorgeous, everything I wanted.  The  cabinets and drawers are perfectly arranged and they function perfectly, too!  And when we get right down to "brass tacks" the delivered price was absolutely competitive with the "high end" crap from "known" brands.  Crap made in faraway lands by largely exploited workers, with marginal materials. 

Give me a break.
























































 

[byhammerandhand]

I visited this guy when he was making chairs out of the back end of his dark and damp garage in Kentucky.   Then a few years later when he had a studio near the depot in the artisan town of Berea, KY.  He's done well for himself.   I've heard him speak at seminars a couple of times.  I hope to make a stop at his place in the next year or two.

http://www.brianboggschairmakers.com/

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/32471/can-brian-boggs-change-the-world-for-pro-furnituremakers/page/all

[gene]

Thanks for the links, hammer.

Very interesting and creative business model.

It reminds me of my attempt to put together a coalition of upholsterers to handle Macey's upholstery volume. No one was interested in a cooperative of any kind. They would rather enjoy the quiet while waiting for the phone to ring than make money.

I do not like tax payer money going into start ups. I think if it is a viable business model it will succeed without tax grants or tax incentives. Brian got $100,000 of tax dollars that other people had to go to work every day to pay. However, this is how our government controls our lives and how politicians get reelected.

gene