Furniture Design

Given that I am new to the furniture industry, I have started reading a bit more about furniture design.
Just got on my Kindle "Furniture Design" by Jim Postell and find it very interesting as this book is not just a collection of beautiful photographs as most books on design are, but a comprehensive educational guide to all aspects of furniture design as an academic discipline (including the business perspective).

On top of that, it is impossible to avoid googling designers, pictures and videos.  So here are a couple of videos that really stretched my imagination - from traditional techniques to modern days 3-D printing.

This is a BBC introduction to the new furniture gallery in Victoria&Albert Museum.

And this - I am not even sure what it is - but it is really cool and involves 3-D printing. It is quite an old video from 2007 - I wonder how advanced these technologies have become by now.  3D printing certainly looks like a great way to prototype furniture and other objects, but it is affordable technology or not yet?

Digital Marketing Trouble

Marketing, and particularly online marketing, is a very specialist subject, and it is incredibly easy to get lost in all the advice available online and in books.   I just cannot believe how many individuals and firms are trying to teach you how to use Facebook and other social media to improve sales.
Well, I am definitely lagging behind in this area.  Despite having my professional profile on LinkedIn for years, I have never posted anything on Facebook - just did not see the point.  At LinkedIn you can get a job offer, but Facebook always seemed to be a waste of time.
Just when I thought it is time for me to get up to speed, one of the young designers told me: "Facebook is for old generation - we use Instagram".  On one hand, what a relief - I can just not bother with Facebook any more.  On the other hand, doesn't Facebook actually own Instagram, and at the end of the day this will be all one thing?

On a serious note, I have got some really good advice from a marketing expert in my family - she probably read all the books on the subject, and the most practical ones she recommends are the following two:

1) Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation by Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones

Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Digital-Marketing-Strategies-Generation/dp/0749453893/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1387214288&sr=8-3&keywords=digital+marketing+ryan

2) The B2B Social Media Book: Become a Marketing Superstar by Generating Leads with Blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, email, and More by Kipp Bodnar and Jeffrey L. Cohen

Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-B2B-Social-Media-Book/dp/1118167767/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387214438&sr=8-1&keywords=the+b2b+social

Image source:  http://www.bettiblue.com/digital-marketing-trends/

As far as my future online marketing strategy concerned, I would like to stick to Benjamin Franklin's advice: "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about".  

Choosing Website Developer - any advice?

Now when my business ideas and plans are shaping up a bit better, I want to think a bit about my online presence.

Websites are now a commoditised product.  It does not cost very much to set up a website, especially if you are using standard templates provided by your chosen hosting company.  Using a professional web-designer is also not that expensive any more - for a couple of thousand you can build a comprehensive eCommerce site.  However, if you need to do something special, it is probably better to use a web-developer.

As a typical beginner, I reserved my domain with a hosting company, and so far did absolutely nothing. Now I decided that I definitely want to use a web-designer to help me to set it up, and I am a bit confused with the choices I have.

On one hand, I have recommendations from friends - some small companies who can put together all necessary components available on the market, including some standard Content Management System (CMS).  On the other hand, at the start-up exhibition I was impressed by some slightly larger companies (with track record of 300+ websites) who have their own CMS.  Although I liked them a lot, would not it be restrictive to engage with a company who use their inhouse developed web-management products? What if I do not get along with them or I will want to move to another platform?  I wish somebody could advise me.

Any views and recommendations on http://www.digitalvirtue.com/  ?

I suppose I will have to talk to all of them and go with my gut feeling.  In a meantime, I will start writing up my business requirements for the website - something exciting to do over Christmas.

Image source: http://www.yescando.com  

The Jewels of North Yorksire - Bespoke Furniture

This weekend we traveled to see my boyfriend's family in Harrogate, and I decided to take advantage of this trip and visit a bespoke high-end furniture designer whom I just accidentally found on Google search in the area.  In fact, it was an article in Harrogate News which caught my attention - about a talented young designer teaming up with a workshop owner with a PhD in engineering.

It took us some time to find the spot in the middle of the fields full of sheep, but the trip was well worth it.

First of all, it was wonderful to see the process - from a computer image which is shown to the customers before the work starts, to the finished (or almost finished) product.  By the way, they use Rhino software to generate 3D images, rather than VectorWorks which I thought was more popular among young designers.

The show room did not have many products, as they tend to produce furniture to order.  But the items which were there looked exceptional - variety of woods (and various parts of the trees), complex shapes, and the quality and look which makes the items stand out and differentiate from cheaper producers.  

It was interesting to note that they are often invited to advertise, but they feel that they need to be very selective, as there is no point in mass advertising - their products are so expensive that they believe that only 0.5% of population can afford them.  I did admire the little side table for over £3000 and yes, I thought that I just cannot spend that much money even if I adore it.

So far their furniture manufacturing process has been very manual and they would create complex and elegant joinery (which justifies the cost).  But they are also just about to invest in the computer-controlled machinery which will allow to work on complex shapes with less cost.  In addition, they are looking to work with other materials and already established relationships with metal works supplier.  I immediately thought that if they are able to combine different materials, then they would be a good place to order prototypes for more complex products.

The company did well through the recession despite difficult times. They have a good website, and they outsource the efforts for SEO,which makes sense - if you are working in a workshop, would you really have time to run a blog?  Most of the clients are from the regional population. And the word of mouth combined with great quality of their products, allowed them to get a large order from a Cathedral.  Just have a loot at the altar below.  What a great credential for a small company!

http://dovetailors.co.uk

Most importantly, we had a good chat about the furniture market, about famous UK furniture designers, high end furniture retailers - as usual I have a lot to learn.  The main thing I took from this conversation is that if you do not have passion for furniture, then you should not be in this business.  

NB  Read about John Makepeace, Mark Fisher, Silver Lining.

Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas

We have just had our first formal creative session on selecting which products we would like to design for our first production cycle.

As a person who does not have any artistic or creative degree, I really should keep my own views with regards to what should be designed to myself.  But I did have a stroke of inspiration. First, I visited the British Library and really loved the chair I was sitting on.  Then I walked into a book shop and saw a cover of the book where Benedict Cumberbatch enjoys a book in the library of the Garrick Club.  Would not it be a nice idea to design a lovely reading chair and place Benedict on that chair in the library?  Ah, the quintessence of Englishness...

. 

Image source: http://www.standard.co.uk

My creative team has largely ignored my proposal.  From what I hear, they like contemporary modern style and combination of various materials, for example, combining wood with plastic.  My immediate reaction is that would be more expensive than using just one material as you might need different suppliers, but for now I probably should not interrupt the creative process.

We have agreed to focus is on three projects for now:
1) sustainability / use of recycled materials
2) the set of coordinated furniture for a living room - disregarding which materials are used
3) explore the area of decorative ceramics

We are aiming to get some sketches ready for January, so that we could do more work on prototyping and  product costing.

According to Donatella Versace, creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.  Perhaps I should not give up on the library chair idea and keep looking for introductions to Benedict :-)

The British Library: Knowledge is Power (only if you know what facts not to bother with)

Visited the British Library for the first time (http://www.bl.uk).  Incredible experience.  Amazing facilities.  Ridiculously strict security - the guards walk around and take away pens and lipsticks.  The library must have been a target for book thieves or vandals.  This is not surprising - I found more information than I was ever hoping to find in a library.  The online research sources for business were overwhelming.  Three hours flew away as one moment and I just scratched the surface...

Found some really useful briefs for starting a company in a specific sector  - with overview of required skills, market trends, regulatory landscape and trading issues.  Got several of these briefs for furniture industry.  And I could not resist from getting one for a coffee-shop! Don't we all think that we pay too much for a cup of coffee?  Profit margins must be incredible in this business :-).

On top of that they run some business-related workshops and events, many of which are totally free.

NB:  I should come back to Business and IP Center /  check for relevant events too
http://www.bl.uk/bipc/

Image source: http://blog.storystarpublishing.com

Business Current Account - Taste the Difference

Like anyone else, to decide on the bank account, I went to the comparison websites to see which bank has the best business current account.  At the moment Santander comes up as number 1 in terms of cost and ease of opening, but given the recent scandals in the press, this bank is definitely not the one for me.  Don't get me wrong, I am not picky - almost every bank has been involved in some sort of scandal, particularly PPI misselling and LIBOR scandal.  But Santander has just a little bit more than others:  poor pensioners lost their money as their old  accounts were closed without notification, some issues with their computer systems, breach of their firewalls in my local Surrey Quays shopping center...

So, naturally I went for the second choice - NatWest with two years of free banking for a start-up.  First, I called and gave my details, and then waited for the branch appointment for about a week, but nobody called me.  So I followed up, and they said that they can give me an appointment only in two weeks, however they can pass my details to another less busy branch.  Needless to say, other branch never called. Then I applied online for the service of the Direct Banking team.  Nobody called me. So I followed up, and some gentleman happily informed me that his team, the Direct Banking team, has been just sold to another organisation, and that if I want to stay with them, they cannot guarantee the terms that are advertised by NatWest. I believe he sounded happy, because he has not (yet) lost his job as a result of this disposal.  But it does not help me as a customer.  

Then my boyfriend suggested to call Metro Bank (https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk) which is still quite new.

When I read the terms, it turned out that if you keep £5000 on the account all the time, you do not pay maintenance fee and get 50 transactions per month free which is not too bad.  The next surprise was that they do not have those horrible automatic answering and call distribution systems which ask you to listen to options and press buttons and then hang up on you after 15 minutes.  A lady called Helen answered my call immediately, clearly explained both the application and decision-making process, and the next day I was in their branch filling in forms and drinking nice tea.  Really, the tea was nice.  They even call it chai not tea.  Once the branch manager reviews my application, I should have my account in 3 days.  Taste the difference!

Image source: http://www.offshore-private-banking.com/

Money does not grow on trees

Yesterday I had a major breakthrough.  After weeks of wishy washy conversations about what we want to sell, and what amazing our brand and shops will be, I have finally managed to arrange our first financial and business planning session.

I know exactly how much money I can invest in my enterprise (and it is not much), so it was interesting to learn how much my potential partners are ready to invest.  That is a good starting point.

Any attempts to push the topic of the legal and shareholders structure, and how business activities and products will be funded, and how people will be financially encouraged to work if they do not contribute any capital, are EXTREMELY PAINFUL at the moment, but at least everyone now agreed that we will need to make a decision sooner or later.

And, more importantly, I convinced everyone that we need to calculate and consolidate information about all potential costs before we even start contacting manufacturers or selecting stock.  Bingo!  We have got our first formal to do list, where everyone is assigned to collect specific piece of research or cost information.  Bless project management :-)

NB:  Need to find somebody experienced who can advise on legal, shareholding and funding options.

Image source: http://www.student365.co.uk

Place to discover tomorrow's talent today

Last week went to the East London Design Show, apparently, according to the Guardian, this is the event to discover tomorrow's talent today.  I felt it was more of a place to  buy Christmas cards and Christmas presents.  Not many furniture companies, in fact only two, but if there were more, I would not have had such indepth conversations.

First of all, I have met an amazing guy who has been designing furniture for M&S most of his life and he gave me good idea on the industry challenges and potential costs of prototypes.  He has just teamed up with another person who is covering mass production and distribution (they have already placed some of their products with http://www.futoncompany.co.uk).  From his partner, I learnt about the painful process of selection of manufacturers, and I am still a bit shocked with regards to the costs of batch production - I really did not expect each chair to cost £200 if you do a batch of 100 (small batch = high cost).  And we are talking about the Baltic countries, not even the UK where labour is extremely expensive.  That means that before I even think about any marketing, packaging, delivery or admin expenses, I will need to pay £21-23k just to design and manufacture a batch of chairs.  So it looks that I will need to find buyers before I do batches, otherwise the economics just do not work.

Then, I talked to a lady who even does not produce chairs - she finds old stuff (which is not valuable antiques, but some mass produced 50s armchairs supplied mostly from Germany), and then reupholsters them with fabrics from young modern fabric designers and sells the chairs on for £500-1200 a chair.  On top of that, she has got an amazing marketing green story of sustainability and upcycling as she not using new timber or electricity.  Just brilliant.  Again, this is not new, but we are more used to restored valuable antiques, so she is basically turning old rubbish which is not that rare into gold.

Anyway, what an amazing day.  Both companies have kindly agreed to discuss potential future co-operation.  I have got an invitation to their workshops.  I cannot wait to follow up with them and see what we can do together and what else I can learn from these creative, resourceful and inspirational people.

Just in case you have got interested:

http://www.galapagosdesigns.com/

http://www.fowlerco.co.uk/

NB:  http://www.eastlondondesignshow.co.uk/  could be a good place to launch the business next year if we decide to go ahead with it.  Need to explore other events as well.

How to make a small fortune

Everything in my research so far indicates that getting into furniture design and manufacturing is a very bad idea.  The costs are high, the demand is low, the competition is fierce.  The high-end furniture business is doing well, but if you do not have an Italian brand with a century history (like http://www.cassina.com has), or you haven't raised millions for marketing and branding (like made.com did), then how do you get through there?

The first craftsman told me that he has given up on bespoke furniture and switched to kitchen accessories production instead.

The first young designer with furniture design degree told me that he is happy to work with me, but he does not want to do furniture.  Instead he would like to make crystal or pottery vases.  That deserves a separate post, as I think that might be a good project to start with.

The first furniture company I talked to at the Design Show, told me the following joke: 

 - How to make a small fortune?

 - Take a large fortune and invest it in furniture business.

And that came from the experienced furniture designer who spent most of his life creating furniture pieces for Marks&Spencers.

Should I take a hint at this point?

Image from http://www.allvoices.com

Christmas starts early

While the business concept about my furniture business is shaping up, I do need to learn more about the industry.  At this stage I am not prepared to pay for proper research, so I browse internet and talk to anyone I can find in the industry.

A friend of mine recommended to talk to somebody who has a small wood workshop.  It turned out that the serious furniture business has pretty much died and evolved into wooden kitchen accessories, mostly cutting boards.  It was a really interesting conversation with the person who is highly skilled to produce bespoke furniture, but just cannot compete on this market with larger companies, and makes more money from selling chopping boards !!!  Got plenty of very good advice.  The main conclusion is that if you do it, don't do it middle price - go for high-end.

And then, just like that, he asked for my address and the next day I received a huge box with chopping and serving boards, placemats and coasters, and even a bird-house.  All objects are absolutely gorgeous -  rounded, smooth, tactile and smelling beautifully of wood.  That was an amazing Christmas moment that came just a little bit early.   My whole family spent an evening putting together the birdhouse, and I just thought about this man's generosity and what I can do for this person in return.

If anyone reads this - check them out http://www.olive-design.co.uk  and buy something nice.  Highly recommended.

Let's see what else I will get out of my research activity :-)

Exit strategy

Isn't it remarkable that now even before you start a business, you already have to think about exit strategy? This really worries me, because if you start doing something with the ultimate sole goal of exiting it, can you really enjoy it?  

Well, I totally understand that it is awesome if you are lucky enough to build a good brand or/and collect a huge amount of customer data and you can sell it for billions to somebody else. But I still feel a little bit nostalgic about old good times when people wanted to start a business without thinking about exit.

Source: http://wisesyracuse.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/plan-your-exit-strategy/

Young talent

I love working with smart ambitious creative young people.  They give me good energy.  Well, most of them.

Working with students or graduates to create new designs/products is not a new idea.  In some areas, this has become really lucrative business.  Say, in arts - you take works of a young artist for pretty much nothing, do a bit of marketing, and two years later you sell his paintings for several thousand pounds, and also get commission for all his new works as his agent.  All you invest in is marketing. There are no expensive materials or prototypes, there are no costly manufacturers...  Furniture is a different matter - before you get your product, you need to spend a lot of cash.  So at the moment, I just do not understand how the maths works, and how smaller furniture companies survive.

Apparently, when made.com started their business, they wanted to do the same, but quickly figured out that students are a bit difficult to work with - when you are young, you have a lot of ambition and self-belief, but you lack commercial or business sense.  I do not want to generalise, but really, can a design student make a realistic costing model and make recommendations for the efficiency of the manufacturing process, or assess what would be the most optimal wholesale and retail price?

Furniture idea

Well, sometimes you just know that this is not the best business idea, but circumstances are just pushing you into it.

First, I accidentally got enrolled to an upholstery course.  Was looking for something to do with hands rather than brain, and found these amazing courses in Peckham Rye sponsored by local council.  After years in corporate offices, spending time in a workshop was both a pleasure and revelation. I suppose I am still struggling with all the new terminology, but hey, I know now how chairs, sofas and ottomans are constructed and what they are filled with.  Even those with the horse hair!  Outrageously, the council encourages new students, so enrolling to repeat the course turned out to be almost impossible.  So I will do woodwork from January instead.

Then, I am catching up with an old friend and it turns out that her dream is to set up business trading in high end furniture.  On top of that, she is thinking about manufacturing her own brand furniture.  Slowly, I am getting involved in the discussions about the business, and I just feel that as an ex-project manager and accidentally qualified management accountant, I could actually help a bit with the structure and plans...

Finally, I am meeting a young graduate - a talented responsible girl, whom initially I asked to give me a few lessons in VectorWorks, and it turns out that she would have wanted to design furniture - if only somebody could pay for the project.

So here I am writing a business plan for a furniture design company, and development plans for furniture export/import company.

Penguins, Pandas and the Winning Business Models

Last week spent two days at the Business Start Up show for the inspiration.  Had low expectations as this was a free event, but it turned remarkably useful.  

Fist of all, it reminded me that I am not as knowledgeable as I thought I was.  For instance, everything I knew about Search Engine Optimisation has completely got outdated.  In fact, if you do things which you did three years ago to boost the Google ratings of your website, you might be penalised and called names (Panda and Penguin).  Something to consider once I set up my website.  

(Image from http://www.searchengineoptimizationportland.com/blog/2011/05/google-panda-update/) 

Second, the presentations on legal protection and finance raising made me think about things I have not thought before. 

- Crowdfunding is the way to go!  

- Various mentorship programs and free sources of business information are the other things which I should definitely check out in the coming weeks 

(NB: Rockstar mentoring + IP and Business Center).

Finally, it was just fun to hear from hard-working people who have already managed to get into the growth phase. I enjoyed the story of www.clippys.com, the apple jam company started from a private garden by a lady who had the guts to challenge EU on the subject of jam standards.  Also loved the speech from www.nakedwines.com, the company which raises money from winelovers in exchange for discounted wine, and then spends some of this money working with wineproducers to improve the quality of their wine.  Lovely concept, where the people paying for the wine also get the benefit of knowing more about wine producers.  In fact, it is so social that the clients can chat with winemakers and then brag that they know them.  

More importantly, this seems to be a winning business model in the current environment: 

1) cut the intermediaries - direct supply from producers to end customers (like www.made.com); 

2) ditch institutional investors or lenders - get money from the crowd (small contributions from public without giving equity away - how clever is that!)

3) hook customers on direct debit for continuous consumption (once the volumes are there, the cashflow problem is resolved once and for all)  - just like www.graze.com concept

4) get immediate feedback for continuous improvement  - direct communication between consumers and producers

5) get open, transparent and social, but without the pain of Facebook

This can be applied to anything which is consumed on a regular basis.  This is too good not to try to copy.  

(NB: Check out nakedwines website for inspiration.  Might enjoy wine as well).

http://www.bstartup.com/

 

New World Frontier

The new beginning deserves a big name, hence "New World Frontier".  Symbolizes freedom, open doors to new opportunities, a bit of adventure, and works for pretty much everything.  Really, could have been a good name for an equity fund.  In fact, when I registered this name for my company, I received letters from intellectual property / brand protecting firms working for all financial institutions with a word "frontier" in their names. The letters were rather threatening, so I just ignored them.  Surely, all other companies with names containing "new" and "world" could have been concerned as well, couldn't they?

Happily Ever After

Twenty three years of office work.  Twenty three years of sitting on office chairs.  No surprise I have a recurring back problem.  A few more years, and I would have got blisters on my bum.  But this is all now came to an end.  Two months ago I resigned.  Resigned from a well-paid job in a very well-respected team from the investment bank which has not lost its reputation yet.  I cannot even say that the last job was bad, it is just that I could not stand being in the office any more.  I think I have been nagging about my job and corporate environment for so many years, that when I decided to leave, my boyfriend decided to support my decision, probably hoping that I will stop complaining once and for all.

That's how my "happily ever after" has begun.  This is amazing time, and I just really want to keep track of what's going on, so that I never forget how exciting it is at the moment.