I recall that I am used to spend so much time screwing around in the school shop at Berkeley. Trying to learn all the machineries in the shop, and of course, as a young lad, I had made many mistake, but praise the Lord, nothing is fatal. I guessed I had made so many mistakes that I was hired as a work-study student in the shop, so I can warn the others not to make the same mistake as I did. I really enjoy design and making furniture, and after graduation, I spend one year as an apprentice in a custom furniture shop before I moved on doing architecture. My friend and I even opened a hobby shop for couple years, but we end up closing it since we both are too busy with our day jobs and can not spend enough time in the shop to justify the rent we are paying for the space. Well, here are few piece my friend and I design and fabricate over the years, so Aiwen, let me know what you think and see if we have a shot in the Asia market. hahahaha
3 comments:
Pretty talented young lad! You've got some cool contemporary pieces. They look like they are finely hand-crafted, so they should be in the mid to mid-high price range right? How were they marketed in your neck of the woods? And was it successful?
We (where I used to work) stay away from contemporary furniture because it's just too competitive in Taiwan. Therefore, sometime the margin is too low to be profitable. Taiwan has a very strange market. You have very rich consumer group interested in the high-end, sparkly gold furniture, or name brands like what we brought in from the States. Then you have the low-end consumer group which shops at IKEA or local furniture store. Leaving a large gap in the middle!
Because the furniture companies we represent are already very mature in its "marketing", whether in the States, or in Asia, we just follow their marketing plan, without having to do it ourselves.
So if you're thinking about retailing your furniture in Taiwan, you should first think about how you want to market it, and how much profit you want to make! I hope you know what I'm talking about os far. I can share what I know with you but it will take a lot more time and a lot more of your blog space! If you have any questions, ask away!
I hear ya big mamma. I do not have any plans with my design yet. As far as marketing in the states, it was just one of my dreams that never gets realized. I had a friend who used to work for Target, and she told me that I would have to be able to produce thousands of my furniture before they even consider to carry my design.
It make sense to mass-produce it in order to make the profit, but my heart tells me to stick with custom one of kind piece, or limited production.
Target is not suitable for you! You should be doing "couture" like they say it in French. You know, catering to people who like your design style and can afford custom-made furniture. Because once it's mass produced, people are going to be more interested in the cost, rather than the design!
Are you still designing on your spare time? You should keep up the good work. Once you have enough work in your furniture portfolio, then you can test the water on-line to see if people are interested! That's just my suggestion! And like I said, how you market your product is essential to any business!
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