Custom Furniture Makers

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Comment by Vinnie Scarlata on February 23, 2010 at 9:08pm

Thank you Will, happy to be aboard. !!!

Comment by Will Sampson on February 23, 2010 at 4:15pm

Congratulations to Vinnie Scarlata for becoming the 100th member of this group!

Comment by Nicole Miller on December 24, 2009 at 12:29pm

Hey Jim, thanks for the information about The Furniture Society. I am going to check it out as well. Happy Holidays all!

Comment by Joshua Lynn on December 24, 2009 at 8:45am

Jim, thanks! I'll be keeping my eye out for exotics on sale so I can do a few tables, Rockler has a pretty good deal on African Mahogany right now... hmm. Its good to see that by doing that you're keeping the work comming in as well, I love the interior designer show room idea! Thanks again, and best of luck in business.

Comment by Jim Tank on December 24, 2009 at 8:29am

Josh..I went to a local arts council meeting and noticed no one doing woodwork.(that was 30 yrs ago). So I went home inspired and built three artistic type benches. At the next show at their gallery, I entered and recieved a second place to a watercolor painting. I donated that piece to the gallery to display with merchandise for sale, the other two, I took around to interior designers until one was on display in her showroom, the last ended up in a high end furniture showroom. It worked wonders for setting my work apart and led to steady work for all these years. Now when I get a unique piece to build for someone, I still build three or four and make time to do the same thing. I always have something nice to show prospective customers, and there is always something on display out in the world with my name on it. Best of all things to your endeavor.

Comment by Joshua Lynn on December 23, 2009 at 3:41pm

Excelent thanks for the help Will! I'll get that sorted out after the next job pays, if nothing else it'll give me an outlet to do more artistic work and see how my work competes with others. Like you said for $35 I can't go wrong with networking and with luck locating a gallery or two.

Comment by Will Sampson on December 23, 2009 at 2:22pm

The Furniture Society includes makers, gallery owners, academics, and collectors. Over the years it has seemed to be more into the art and craft of studio furniture than the business, although it does typically include some business discussions in its annual conference. (I was at one conference where a gallery owner spoke up in a business session and obviously objected to some of the pragmatic business suggestions of a couple of panelists. She apparently was more interested in taking commissions from starving artists instead of helping them become more sophisticated business people.) But the conferences are impressive annual gatherings, usually held at a college somewhere, and it is a great networking opportunity to connect not only with other studio furniture artists but also potentially meet some gallery owners and collectors (read customers). For $35, you can't go wrong.

Comment by Joshua Lynn on December 23, 2009 at 1:32pm

Hey there guys I just found a site called The Furniture Society, I was thinking about getting a student membership with them ($35). Any thoughts? Does any one here know of or use it? Also, I'm finally getting around to my business plan and honestly... I'm kinda stumped on where to find relevant info. showing the size and demand for the industry (Custom Furniture mainly) so if any has any ideas or recources there. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wishing every the best in business.

Comment by David Bray on July 24, 2009 at 12:47pm

Your recommendations are highly noted and felt. Educating customers is very hard to do, many don’t want to hear it. As a result, I have learned to ask the questions that target value first – do you want a piece of heirloom quality furniture or are you looking to put something in the corner to fill a void? Filling voids, in this economy, has been the way many have gone. Since I have limited space and time, I do these for friends and family. For the others, I have a list of local people that already have full time businesses that do this kind of work and I send them these customers. For the people that want the high end pieces and are willing to pay for it, I get their ideas and model them in Autocad. From there I can work up a price. I have several people that are thinking about getting their “special” furniture made, most of them will go to Sears or Ikea and get something to fill the void and a small handful will come back in a year or so and ask me to make something. I have had a few people of late that asked me to make them something only to have a downturn in their personal financial situation. For these folks, since I don’t take money in advance, I can take the furniture that my wife doesn’t want and donate it to charity and take the write-off - no harm, no foul - it happens. This may sound crazy to some, instead of selling the pieces, but I don’t have the space or the retail outlet to offer them. At this point, I am working on quality, technique, different methodologies including production potential, the tools, etc…

I do enjoy a tremendous luxury in how I am able to do things, including a very supportive wife, and as a result, am learning a tremendous amount about every aspect of the industry. As my expertise and reputation grow, hopefully I may someday build the business that I would like to have. I am not ready to hang that shingle out yet but my testing of the water has been a tremendous learning experience. I am looking at this as a future career and learning everything I can from other professionals and customers alike. If I can give others ideas or pass along some of this, it is my pleasure. I greatly appreciate and enjoy comments and ideas, friendly and not - creates great conversation - and sometimes its good to stir things up a bit and get people thinking, including myself.
Many thanks.

Comment by Will Sampson on July 24, 2009 at 9:43am

David, it's great to have the luxury of time to go with a devotion to quality. But I have one bit of hard-learned advice to give you as you continue your journey into professional woodworking. Make sure that you are investing your time to create value as seen through your customer's eyes. I regularly meet shop owners who invest too much time into things that their customers don't value or even appreciate. The trick is to either educate customers to value the quality you are building into your pieces or to drop time-consuming and costly features that are not really valued by the customer. Make sure your customers pay for that extra time and attention to detail. Then you and they will both be happy!

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