Furniture craftsmanship or wood work is a slow and tedious process. It requires a lot of craftsmanship, dedication and attention. A furniture craftsman must be imaginative and should be able to create exquisite pieces of furniture out of raw wood. Customers today do not want ordinary looking and usual furniture pieces. The modern customer has a more aesthetic approach. Now, more people OPT for specialized and custom made furniture that suits their needs and looks fantastic.
One class of furniture is bespoke furniture. It is luxury furniture and is made on the basis of the special requirements of clients. Unlike usual furniture that is made and then sold, this customised furniture is made after the client request. The client first tells in detail what kind of furniture he/she requires. The wood work craftsman then makes the furniture according to the wishes of the client. Not everyone can make a special kind of furniture. Only experts (with several years of work experience) and wood work students can make such furniture.
A student can join a wood work course for a shortest period of 1 week. He/she can also opt for a 1, 2, 6 or 12 months course. At the wood work schools, they are taught of the various details that relate to wood work/furniture manufacture. Some of these are hands tool selection, hand power tools, use of abrasives and glues, machinery, health and safety, drawing, order of timer, veneering, laminating, finishing etc. At the end of the course, a student knows everything about making furniture. The fee for 1 year course depends on the institution. It can be somewhere around £17,000 for a 1 year course. The passed out students are able to make all kinds of furniture including this tailor-made furniture.
As stated earlier, custom-made luxury furniture is the category of furniture, which is built according to the wishes of the customer. Thus, specially made furniture cannot be found at every other furniture store. For getting such interesting furniture, the client has to visit the furniture studio of the craftsman/expert. The client spells out the details of the furniture (size, dimensions, look of edges, overall look etc.) to the craftsman. The craftsman may show the client some previous made work in the form of photographs or by any other means. The customer may like one of them or may want something that is different from the work. The craftsman/bespoke furniture maker will then make some drawings/sketches of the furniture on paper or computer. If the sketches are approved by the client, the craftsman proceeds to make the product. Many-a-times revisions are made. Revisions lead to modifications of sketch designs.
In UK, many companies are in the business of making made-to-order furniture. On client’s request they make customized furniture for home areas like bedroom, lounge etc. They also make such furniture for offices. Sandbone is one such company that makes exquisite home and office furniture.