Have you ever considered having a custom piece of sofa created just for you?
It can be a daunting proposition, even for well connected designers in makers markets like South Los Angeles or in the heart of American made furniture in North Carolina.
Through SHOP TEOT, I have come to know this well. In fact I’ve been delighted to get a peek behind the scenes of the mysterious manufacturing furniture scene in both LA and in NC, where TEOT works with makers on its own custom furniture pieces.
As it turns out, the mystery is not as great as it appears from the outside.
The truth: it is well hidden, in plain sight. Hidden in old factories that pepper the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains or within the blocks and blocks of commercial warehouses in Vernon, CA, hidden behind old school manual processes… hidden by just a slight veil draped over top by the interior design industry that has historically made its mint in keeping its custom manufacturing secrets within the trade.
For SHOP TEOT, we are often designing and developing a new something or other to share with our consumers on the shop floor or for the occasional design project.
We love to explore custom as much as possible because we love the design process so much. It’s a creative rush to work alongside manufacturers on proportions and product design. I always feel like I’m in the middle of something special when I make a factory visit.
From our efforts at executing the perfect roll arm sofa, to nailing down the right design with our old school Hickory NC friends on the modern skirted track arm of Sarah’s dreams – we love a custom project.
One of my best friends has tackled the manufacturing and design worlds head on and is finding his feet in the design industry with his new company BUILDLANE.
Buildlane has built a platform created just for designers. It solves custom manufacturing challenges faced by designers like lagging production timelines, poor communication, loss of design details along the way.
The Buildlane app provides a designer with a beautiful online portal where they can build projects and upload specifications from inspiration images to technical drawings. They even offer services like 3D rendered shop drawings, studio photography of the final product, shipping logistics and more. All of this helps designers communicate more effectively with their clients.
This bench project is one that we have tweaked a number of times with Buildlane.
Oh, you tryna order that? We will custom make it for you with Buildlane!
https://shop.theestateofthings.com/products/birdie-bench
We even had one modified to suit an install with our talented friend and designer Stephanie of Covet Living Interiors. She used a vintage Suzani and we were able to communicate the perfect placement of this delicate vintage textile with the makers at Buildlane. It turned out perfecto.
Next up with Buildlane, we are diving into two barrel swive chairs for Betsy’s living room, as part of the ongoing new additions at betsy’s house.
DESIGNERS! SIGN UP FOR BUILDANE AND GET STARTED ON YOUR FIRST QUOTE!
If you are a designer and you are interested in setting up an account with Buildlane to explore your custom furniture needs, please hit up the folks there by signing up at left. All you need is your Trade License info.
It’s super quick (and free) to get signed up and you can have your first custom furniture project uploaded for quote in no time.
And hey if you aren’t a licensed designer, but you are itching to get something custom made and don’t know how to get it done, well you know that we at The Estate of Things would love to help you out! Just email us and tell us what you have in mind. We will work with Buildlane on your behalf as the designer.
