Furniture etc which sells?

[Jack.P]

Might have a go at selling furniture stuff in the new year as would fancy a change if it’s a viable business idea but what sells well which can be made fairly cheaply and looks good  .the first  chair I recently made cost too much to build from prime oak and probably wouldn’t have a market.

one of the ideas is to get green chestnut poles and have a go at making benches 

 

 

[dumper]

Always found well made comfortable garden furniture hard to find, marketing will be your make or break 

[gobbypunk]

Hi I have been making and selling furniture / sculpture for yrs now and there is no one thing that sells better than another just make what you like and make it well and you should sell stuff ok marketing is your main thing ,Good Luck 

 

[Jack.P]

After further research into this with pricing of materials etc .market leading national  retailers like oak furniture land are selling solid oak coffee tables from £115 so there is no way of competing with this type of online market .

I have sussed out there low price business model though - they probably  import the timber pre ready cut and machined then simply assemble in uk with less labour cost but still sell as uk made.( also this maximises shipping container space and reduces costs )

Also noticed there is lead times on the furniture so nearly everything  is likely only made to order and probably mostly online sales and they use there own vans so again cost price reduced  

 

 

seems like a good selling point though might be that everything made must be bespoke and unique and hard to replicate and timber being sustainably sourced only from uk. Wider boards also looks nicer but not seen in mass production furniture 

[lux]

After further research into this with pricing of materials etc .market leading national  retailers like oak furniture land are selling solid oak coffee tables from £115 so there is no way of competing with this type of online market .
I have sussed out there low price business model though - they probably  import the timber pre ready cut and machined then simply assemble in uk with less labour cost but still sell as uk made.( also this maximises shipping container space and reduces costs )
Also noticed there is lead times on the furniture so nearly everything  is likely only made to order and probably mostly online sales and they use there own vans so again cost price reduced  
 
 
seems like a good selling point though might be that everything made must be bespoke and unique and hard to replicate and timber being sustainably sourced only from uk. Wider boards also looks nicer but not seen in mass production furniture 

It’s all computer / machine cut. Volume boring furniture.
No point trying to compete with it. Go bespoke and more unusual. Social media will be your friend to launch it I suspect. Ask Steve B he’s good at all that stuff.
Don’t underprice yourself early on. Hand made furniture is time consuming, skilled and deserving of a good price tag.

Good luck.

[Jack.P]

This is the first attempt  at fine woodworking but needs the base hollowing out now and edge bevelled 

 

[Rough Hewn]

My mates chairs are £600-£900 each.
[emoji106]

[Mrblue5000]

I suggest something small that will fit in the boot of a car, keep it simple at the start. Then orders will hopefully come in for bespoke one off pieces.

[devon TWiG]

There are many great makers out there , but marketing is a difficult and often expensive exercise !!  I sell stuff through galleries who typically take 50% ,,, many people say that is ridiculous etc  .but ,,, galleries achieve far better prices than other outlets , I have done some craft events ( fairly posh ones ) but entry to such events is not cheap , plus costs of travel , insurance , accommodation, meals etc  PLUS being non productive for the duration , packing / unpacking before and after event and prices achieved are normally below gallery prices   so not any more profitable ...add in to that a spell of shit weather and it could be a disaster  !!  I know many great makers / artists that barely scrape a living and most of there income is (was !!) from demos / teaching etc ...

[gobbypunk]

Hi we used to do lots of shows, fairs etc and now there aint any its killing us, our order book is empty, need a website a s a p