Not all imaginations leap…

… and some leap too far!

As a designer maker, it usually makes sense to market yourself through a fairly narrow lens. This can be frustrating at times when the training at Rowden gives you the skills to make pretty much anything in any style, from Bauhaus minimalism to Baroque extravagance via, say, English country farmhouse (if you must!)

So the designer chooses to market a style they like and a range of products that are representative of what they can do… and there’s the rub… representative… 

For every customer who comes along asking if we can do a different version of an existing product there’ll be someone who thinks what we’ve already made is all they’re allowed to have. The upshot is that nearly every image, every description, every page has to explain that the customer is free to adapt and change any design for their own purpose, because that is what bespoke is.

We’ve heard one potential client walk away from an exhibition stand full of furniture they loved to talk to another designer of furniture they didn’t like so much because the second guy had a wardrobe on their stand and the customer wanted a wardrobe… 

Spot said first designer rugby tackling potential client to the ground so as to better explain how he might be able to help!

Now that might well have ended up being a great save by the designer, but sometimes a potential client can be beyond saving. What do you do with a super passionate interior designer who simply loves everything about your solid wood, inlaid coffee table, if you could just make it out of steel and glass!

Aaaarghhh!!

Until next time,

Lakshmi

 

David established Rowden Atelier in 1995, a now world renowned fine woodworking school. Discover Rowden, the woodworking courses, and the work that students go on to do.

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