COMMISSIONS
Most of the pieces we create at Moran Woodworked Furniture are commissioned works. For us, the beauty of commissioned furniture is that it is bespoke to your space and evolves out of a relationship we build with you over time. It is not necessarily more or less expensive to commission a piece than to purchase a currently available item.
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If you are interested in commissioning a piece of furniture or sculpture, please be in touch to start the conversation. We would love to welcome you to our Hudson Valley workshop by appointment, though we regularly work with clients across the country or across an ocean. The entirety of our process can take place through phone and email or video calls.
Introduction & Conversation
Our process begins with an initial conversation covering a few of the most essential elements about the piece you’re looking to commission.
Understanding how a piece of furniture needs to function is the foundation of our design process. As we consider function, having a sense of scale for the proposed project and its context within your space is ideal. You might take a look at past Projects, Available pieces, even Instagram and our blog, to inform some material and design preferences. We appreciate if you have considered a budget, and if there are specific timing constraints, we ask that these are brought to our attention early on.
After this first conversation, and particularly if the piece is exceedingly site specific, we often arrange a visit to your space or, in lieu of this, photographs are most helpful.
Materials & Design
For us, individual boards drive our design decisions just as the design informs the boards we select. So, the design process often commences with a walk through our wood storage. Boards can sit for years before the right project comes along.
We create a hand-drawn design for the prospective piece and select specific boards for your approval; you are always welcome to come join us in our workshop for this review of potential boards. We walk though each aspect of the design so that ultimately you are involved in our structural and aesthetic determinations.
Our time frame for delivery and a firm cost are given alongside the prospective design drawing and aren’t fixed until the design has been approved.
Approval & Commencement
Once the design, materials, cost and time frame have been approved, a 50 percent deposit is required before the piece is added to our schedule.
Our hope at this juncture is to share the process of building the commissioned piece with you through photos and emails as it makes its way from rough boards to finished furniture. We find excitement and wonder in this radical transformation.
The boards we start with can often feel illegible—its hard to conceptualize how they will look joined, planed, sanded and with finish applied. As we work, we watch them come alive, come sharply into focus: volumes are formed, grain is uncovered, then bookmatched with Rorschach-like effect, then unbelievably illuminated with its first layer of our hand applied Tung oil finish.
Completion & Delivery
Once your bespoke piece is completed, we will organize delivery. The remaining 50 percent is due at this time.
Our preference is to deliver the piece to its home ourselves; however if this is not possible, we will arrange shipment by one of several methods. For small objects, we pack each box and ship using insured UPS. For our larger pieces, we use white glove shipping services.
International shipping is available on all large and small pieces.
