Designing custom furniture is always a challenge! At the invitation of Hettich, a German hardware brand, Casoca has recorded very useful content that will help you! We went to Rio Grande do Sul to learn about and learn more about all the processes.
Leticia Kecher, product designer and furniture accessories specialistAnd Mari, do Casocaorganized 5 practical tips to help us architects design custom-made furniture and custom-made furniture. Understand the importance of specifying bespoke furniture handles and hardware and also the key differences in quality fittings for bespoke cabinets, drawers and furniture! And also know all the differences Hettich, market leader in the field!
Understand your customer’s reality
It sounds cliché, but understanding our clients’ reality is the best way to deliver a functional project, within budget and that they will use for a long period of time.
With everything, Understanding the typology of the space is the first point. Will it be a house you live in your whole life or an apartment you spend a few years in and then move out of? This is essential. When we talk about custom-made projects and furnishings we are not just talking about kitchens or bedrooms, but about complete environments. We need to study and apply what the customer’s reality really is to projects. If it’s a rented apartment, you certainly don’t want furniture that you can’t take with you when you move. This is why understanding the customer is essential!
Furthermore, It is important to know how much you are willing to investsince we can go from 8 to 80 in a single piece of furniture.
Regarding planned kitchen projects, we have a multitude of options, such as simpler kitchens, with accessories, stones, or more conceptual kitchens, with different elements and technologies applied. That’s why it’s so important to know your budget and how much the environment will appreciate it. Creating an environment that breaks the budget and being a place the owner doesn’t use is not appropriate.
Think about functionality
When we design projects, we often think about the aesthetic aspect, how our client will feel when they enter the space. However, the aesthetic side is a plus for the functional environment! We must first understand if what he proposes is true functional and it will be useful for the customer and for the environment as a whole. Whether the doors or drawers can be opened in the space in which they are located, whether the children in the house can reach them or whether you will be able to access the shelves yourself. That’s why functionality is so important! Custom furniture lasts a long time and must be functional at all stages of life.
Search for references
References are not always just images taken from the Internet or Pinterest. We also need to understand what type product exists on the national market in our context.
When we, architects and industry professionals, design, we produce super realistic images to show our customers the environments. However, generally when we design we download several 3D blocks just for the sake of beauty and we don’t know who the supplier is or whether they actually exist. What happens if your customer chooses what doesn’t exist? Therefore, Letícia emphasizes the importance of Casoca during design and specification. And Mari adds the importance of knowing brands. And how the Casoca brands set out to help the architect find and learn about the real products!
Look for good partners and suppliers
When we think of suppliers we talk about industries, shops, fitters, electricians and plumbers. There are many partners and many people who collaborate to make a project work!
We should always look for reliable and good quality industrieswithout forgetting that during the entire process unforeseen events may occur starting from the arrival of the products at the customer’s home. We can bump into a piece of furniture, damage it or even find it misaligned or out of place. Therefore, it is important to monitor the entire process and Having good relationships with partner stores is an important part of customer service! Ensuring good collaboration with good architects is a distinctive element in ensuring that the client finishes the job happily!
«The industry for us, prescribers, provides us with a very strong foundation in terms of products, product quality. And this whole issue is about branding: strong brands, partners, important brands in our lives.» – Says Leticia
That’s why it’s important to have high-quality products like Hettich products. They are versatile products full of technology that differentiate them from others. And often, being a more «hidden» part, the difference they make to the useful life and functionality of the furniture is not always remembered.
Pay attention to details
Sometimes we get caught up in the project as a whole and forget the small details in the technical design of custom furniture. Letícia exemplifies those projects where you have 3 different budgets and you can’t understand what changes from one to the other. These differences are in the details: Which hinge was mentioned? This is why it is important to specify everything in our projects!
If we do not specify the same furniture/kitchen we could receive quotes ranging from 5 to 20 thousand reais. The difference is not in the aesthetics, but in the quality of the custom-made furniture. We must always indicate in the project the type of opening, handle and closing of all the furniture provided. To do this, we need to place a specification arrow and write, for example: “soft hinge – Hettich”. We don’t need to be too detailed. Just specify the main things: hinges, guides, whether the door is up-and-over or recessed… They are small things that make the difference in the project!
Want to check out these tips in full? Just play the video!
Also, run to Casoca and come and discover University of Casoca. A space dedicated to architecture and design professionals and students looking for greater training, knowledge and professional development! You also find 4 tips for specifying bed, table and bathroom!
And take the opportunity to find out more about Hettich and the Bigfer group in the special episode released on October 24th Preliminary podcast!
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