finding manufacturer for furn. designer?

[Ernest Burden III]

I used to enjoy designing custom furniture and small interior objects. But I couldn't do anything with my designs, so I stopped doing them. What I've designed would be small-interest, expensive to build items. These would not be mega-sellers. So finding a manufacturer would be difficult. Still, I don't know where to even start in finding a company to produce these designs. The items are weird, more art than traditional furniture.

 

Any suggestions?

[rotten42]

I used to enjoy designing custom furniture and small interior objects. But I couldn't do anything with my designs, so I stopped doing them. What I've designed would be small-interest, expensive to build items. These would not be mega-sellers. So finding a manufacturer would be difficult. Still, I don't know where to even start in finding a company to produce these designs. The items are weird, more art than traditional furniture.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

can you describe a bit more what you are making? Residential furniture? Commercial applications?

[Chad Warner]

I have a friend that dealt with a manufacturer for his 1-off kind of furniture. I'll email him and ask who his contact was.

 

-Chad

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

...didn't Gregg Hess used to design furniture? i haven't seen him around in ages, but every once in awhile he pops up. you may want to contact him, and pick his brain.

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/291-i-d-magazine-surface-magazine.html

 

i have wondered for awhile now about the process you need to go through to have a design realized. i was listening to the Icon-o-Cast / Lunar Design Podcast the other day, and they briefly touched on the subject of realizing an idea, and bring it to commercialization. they suggested getting a patent before you do anything and preferably a prototype before you approach a manufacturer. their comments were not directly aimed at furniture design, but ideas in general. however, i think they are related.

 

http://www.lunar.com/podcast/index.html

 

.

[Ernest Burden III]

Thanks, everyone. The stuff I had been doing was for residential, mostly. I can't patent much of it. Patent a sink? It's a nice sink, but the tech is pretty old. I'm also not in a position yet to make prototypes, especially if I have to pay someone else to make them. I drew these things, and I could model/draft them up if needed. I have hand-built some furniture items for my own home, but I am in no way a skilled craftsman.

 

I appreciate the contacts offered. This is something that's been laying dormant for ten or fifteen years, but today I decided to look back into it.

 

I've always wanted to design Tshirts, too, but paying for screens printing, blamnks and having to stock 'em all, plus market, meant I never went past ideas. Now there are several on-demand printing companies that allow you to design and sell your own Tshirt line. I'm hoping to find time to get that going some time soon, too.

[Sawyer]

I was just looking at this today:

 

http://store.cottonfactory.com/artistsform.html

 

I get my "funny / lets pretend I am hip" t shirts from those guys.

[Ernest Burden III]

I get my "funny / lets pretend I am hip" t shirts from those guys.

 

That may be one of the companies I was mentioning, but it may be the one that has people submit designs for acceptance, like publishing. The others you can do whatever you want, they just get a set cost for production and order processing and delivery. The rest is yours, and you set the price. If you want to get into the whole Tshirt universe start here:

http://tcritic.com/

 

Maybe one day giant 3D printers will be able to spit out furniture like these Tshirt shops do. I was in the NY Museum of Modern Art this past weekend (hey, maybe that's why I thought to resuscitate my design work) and there is a display of CG-generated 3D objects. One is a whole chair that looks like the math models Jotero used to post that must have been done with a rapid-prototyping printer.

[JBW77]

Ernest,

If you ever do end up making one of a kind pieces in the future, look into this gallery. http://www.twentieth.net/main.htm I had a fiend who had pretty good luck selling his furniture there. Contacting some of the designers might also be a good resource.

http://www.umodern.com/ is the site I've been looking into, but I'm looking at more production base design. I've also been contacting outsourcing companies, but not sure how I feel about sweatshop labor.

Good Luck

Jason

[Ernest Burden III]

look into this gallery.

 

I'm looking at more production base design.

 

Thanks, I'll have a look. I have no problem with multiple production of my work, just can't imaging all that many people wanting it. One-offs would be fine, too, but that would make them really expensive.

[Chad Warner]

JBW77 is the friend with the contact, so it looks like he saw your post.

 

Another place you can T-shirts and whatever else created is cafepress.com.

You can pretty much get anything you want there with your name/design on it, and they'll make it to order.

[Ernest Burden III]

Another place you can T-shirts and whatever else created is cafepress.com.

You can pretty much get anything you want

 

'ceptin' Alice

 

there with your name/design on it, and they'll make it to order.

 

That was the first one. The quality is OK, but it's too much like the iron-ons I used to get in the 70s. (I had a way-cool Elton John one)! There are several newer ones with newer tech that is much closer to good old serigraph (silk-screen) printing. I have to buy some samples from those places to choose the one to go with. CafePress does great paper printing, though. The lunchboxes suck.

 

Back to the furniture--I'm wondering if you could generate orders with renderings, or if you just have to pony up and make a prototype piece. With these objects that would cost many thousands of dollars each, so I'm doubtful someone will want to invest that. And I can't justify the cost as I'm not that wealthy.

[Tommy L]

I had an incredible hulk t-shirt when I was 6 and a postman pat lunchbox. If I had both of those things now I would never be without them.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Back to the furniture--I'm wondering if you could generate orders with renderings, or if you just have to pony up and make a prototype piece. With these objects that would cost many thousands of dollars each, so I'm doubtful someone will want to invest that. And I can't justify the cost as I'm not that wealthy.

 

at first i was skeptical of the concept of generating orders from a rendering due to a couple of reasons. but the more i think about it, the more i am second guessing myself. my initial thought was that you meant going direct to consumer, which, without a prototype would be like someone commissioning a illustration without looking at any of the artists prior work. not the easiest thing to pull off.

 

...but, i would guess that manufacturers are used to being approach with only renderings, and no prototype.

 

i am wondering if a successful route might be to sell a piece to an existing client. they already have a working relationship with you, and a great deal of trust in you. they would probably be more lenient the an new client in working with you to have the piece manufactured. it would give you a piece to photograph, and start building a portfolio of commissioned/built pieces from.

 

et al.. my favorite t-shirt design place is threadless.com, user submitted designs that everyone can vote on for their favorite, that then goes into production.

[Sawyer]

'ceptin' Alice

 

Wow you can really go back for those quotes. I feel old.

 

Completely off topic - I am sorry - but this week I was cleaning up some old book cases and I ran across an old EB III tutorial that I had printed out. This was a 14 page tutorial for watercolor/digital hybrid. Looks like I printed it out in Jan '02. Now just put those tutorials together in a book.

[Chad Warner]

Or on a T-shirt?

[Ernest Burden III]

I ran across an old EB III tutorial that I had printed out. This was a 14 page tutorial for watercolor/digital hybrid.

 

I was in a colleague's studio earlier this week and one of the artists that works there asked me where to find that same tutorial. It's still linked off my old interview with cgarchitect.

 

Sometimes I feel like I live in suspended animation. When I was younger, I did a lot of art, designed things, was going in 100 directions at once. Now, I'm not sure I've done anything original in five years. Most of my old work led me nowhere, but I'm missing the creative energy. There's a saying among writers that goes "writers write".

[RyanJ]

On sort of the same topic.........check out this T-Shirt......talk about mixing the old with the new -

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/8e31/

 

Ernest, maybe what you need is a quick fix artistic outlet.......I suggest a package of iron on transfers and an ink jet printer. I've had some good laughs from the shirts I've made. Go ahead, print what you want, iron it on, and tell the world.

[ktm07]

That t-shirt is really cool! I think I need to get me one of those!

[shaneis]

Ernest,

 

Sorry to jump-in late, but I might be able to offer food-for-thought.

 

I think there's a few ways you could go about this, coming from an Industrial Designer's perspective that is.

 

As for patents - nearly impossible and financially unviable. You can however register a design. Remember though, that even with all the protection that comes with a registered design, it won't stop someone in another country reproducing it at high volume and thumbing their nose at you. Similarly, once you "release"/ publish your designs to the rest of the world, you effectively nullify your ownership, having "given"it to the world...if you design a piece you like, keep it well hidden.

 

A different approach could be to negotiate with a manufacturer and selling the design and all rights to it. You don't stand to make enormous wealth this way, but instead you are rewarded financially and similarly you wash your hands of the worry that someone might steal the design. This works very well with small custom furniture manufacturers, and can often lead to other "on-the-side" work, especially if the manufacturer is good with their hands, but lousy with a pencil.

 

If your designs use multiple materials (eg: timber, upholstery, metal tube-stock) you can keep your design hidden and have the individual parts made and then assemble them yourself, or have another party assemble them.

 

Hope this helps,

 

S.

[Renderbarn]

Well, I had some custom made furniture and a rug (after some Photoshop-Design) done when I worked in Bangkok. If you are planning a holiday...I am sure you will find a possibilty there or in China. Shipping is usually less of a problem than you might think, often manufacturer offer it for quite good conditions. You can probably even find manufacturers over the internet..

[Ernest Burden III]

Thanks, again, for the tips.

 

I do want to pursue this, its just a matter of finding time between all the other things I have to do. But as of this week I'll be teaching a class at a design college, so I hope the atmosphere there inspires me to get back to designing.

 

It's frustrating to have so many things I want to do, but I consider myself extremely lucky to have so many things open to me. Its just a matter of getting to them. I cannot imagine waking up any morning and not having a mind full of things I want to do. In the end I will not be able to do them all, but I will have a life lacking boredom. That is a blessing.