Bespoke nursery furniture from Couture

At Couture we will design, manufacture and install furniture for every occasion, even kitchen, although we only make kitchens for long standing customers who insist we make them! I won’t go into it here but suffice to say that the 3rd parties required for making kitchen tend to let us down and the process is less satisfying then all the other domestic pieces we can make!

This is a piece for a nursery; underlit oak shelves, mirrored back, soft surfaced worktop with oak lipping, deep drawer storage and an array of cabinets. As with all Couture pieces it has been designed and made as a one off, specifically to fit the room and meet all criteria set by the client, if you would like to know more about commissioning bespoke furniture from Couture see our gallery in the main website, www.couturefurniture.com fill in the enquiry form and request a brochure, or send an email directly to mail@couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture is a Limited registered company with a fully equipped workshop in London, all pieces are designed, made and installed by Couture, without compromise or fuss, there’s nothing quite like for design and quality. If you would like to know and see more please get in touch with Rupert Kingston on 0207 272 4206 or mail@couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture Ltd

Bespoke walnut alcove cabinet and shelves

Another stunning bit of built in furniture from Couture; this piece is a fitted alcove cabinet with upper and lower cabinets, drop flap door for DVD etc, DVD drawers all with matched veneers. The upper cabinet has a lift up door on the right and side opening on the left to allow for the curtain. The asymmetrical design allows for a more practical set of drawers rather than 2 sets of small drawers split down the centre. The alcove is lined with panels colour matched to the walls, all the cabling is integrated, the sockets are inside the lower cabinet.

As with all Couture pieces it has been designed and made as a one off, specifically to fit the alcove, it completes the room and houses the TV, stereo and a host of associated bits. If you would like to know more about commissioning bespoke furniture from Couture see our gallery in the main website, www.couturefurniture.com fill in the enquiry form and request a brochure, or send an email directly to mail@couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture Ltd

Bespoke furniture from Couture Furniture

Here’s another recent piece designed, manufactured and installed by Couture. A fully fitted wardrobe, with shoe racks, TV cabinet and hanging section, when it goes on the main website gallery the image will be animated to show all the compartments. The handles are full height walnut strips set behind a chamferred edge, the TV surround is also walnut, there is internal lighting on concealed movement switches, the colour is matched to the wallpaper stripes. This is typical of our work, we’ve considered the room, the design and the practicality of the piece, it’s a finishing piece that defines but doesn’t overwhelm the room.

Couture Furniture

Bespoke walnut bur sidebaord and bookcases from Couture

This is quite a lovely dining room sideboard with flanking bookcases and a framing panel at the top to centre and light the picture.

The sideboard section has a pull out shelf for a printer, it has matched walnut bur doors and the plinths for the bookcases either side are also finished in walnut bur. The rest is in crown cut American black walnut. It is suspended between the 2 bookcases to lighten the look.

As with all Couture pieces it has been designed and made as a one off, specifically to fit the room and wall it sits in as well as function as the customer requests. If you would like to know more about commissioning bespoke furniture from Couture see our gallery in the main website, www.couturefurniture.com fill in the enquiry form and request a brochure, or send an email directly to mail@couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture is a London based furniture design and manufacturing company, the workshop is on Archway North London, all our work is designed and built in house.

Couture Furniture Ltd

bespoke furniture home study sideboard

This dining room sideboard has many drawers, with a filing drawer on the left next to a small desk area with a matched cable bung and cable management screen to make it as discreet as possible. It has a Forbo top and drawer fronts with walnut lipping on the top and drawer edges, the drawer handle is cut into the solid walnut lipping. As with all Couture pieces it has been designed and made as a one off, specifically to meet all design and function criteria set by the client, if you would like to know more about commissioning bespoke furniture from Couture see our gallery in the main website, www.couturefurniture.com fill in the enquiry form and request a brochure, or send an email directly to mail@couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture Ltd

Couture Furniture Ltd

Finally a new post about bespoke furniture by Couture Furniture

It’s been a long time since this section has been updated, and there’s lots of new pieces of bespoke furniture to show how busy this year has been.

There’s more changes to report, like the doubling in size of the workshop, the new spray booth and de-nibbing room, some much needed storage and a workshop gym! Yes really, a commercial treadmill and weights bench complete with TV has been installed in the back room alongside the compressor! There was so much room left and with low head room and only a compressor in there it seemed the only healthy choice!

Anyway, onto some lovely work; first piece up is a very clean wall mounted sideboard that had to house some AV equipment and a turntable, push to open soft opening drop flap doors, all the compartments  and made a sliding shelf for the turntable and added some internal CD and DVD drawers. It’s finished in satin graphite inside with a polished ruby red exterior. Designed and made as a one off, specifically to meet all design and function criteria set by the client, if you would like to know more about commissioning bespoke furniture from Couture see our gallery in the main website, www.couturefurniture.com fill in the enquiry form and request a brochure, or send an email directly to mail@couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture Ltd

The Art of Bespoke Furniture

Bespoke furniture has many benefits and advantages purely for the fact that you can choose the colour, style and size – it can be made to fit your exact requirements. When you find a piece of furniture in a shop, have you ever had to compromise on its location because it just wouldn’t fit where it was supposed to? This next piece shows that with bespoke furniture there is no need to compromise and whatever your requirements, here at Couture we will find the perfect solution. This desk had to fit underneath the eave of the two skylights and in between cupboards at either end of the room.

The desk surface is made from Forbo, a material which is easy to keep clean due to its naturally anti-static surface. The desk and drawers are edged in oak matching the tones of the floor and windows, creating a pleasing contrast to the duck egg blue used on the surface and drawer fronts, which was also chosen as a subtle contrast to the lighter colour of the walls. The drawers have concealed handles at the sides and feature removable oak trays inside each of them. The unit to the right of the desk, following the same style, was made for the printer featuring one large drawer and an open shelf for accessories. The desk may look like a relatively simple design, what counts is how well it fits not how fancy it looks.

Having a piece of bespoke furniture made for you by Couture is probably not as expensive as you’d imagine, the cost of a good piece of furniture from a high end retailer is often significantly more, and at that price ought to be exactly right, but of course it’s not because everyone’s needs and tastes are different! If you’re unimpressed by the offerings in the higher end retailers then fill out the brochure request form on the main website at http://www.couturefurniture.com/gotflash/gotflash.html or email us at mail@couturefurniture.com to discuss your furniture requirements and arrange a free survey and consultation.
Every piece we design and make is made as a one off exclusive piece of furniture, we don’t have any standard items or stock items, everything from how it’s made to how it’s wrapped, delivered and installed is anything but standard. The testimonials were not requested (and that’s just a selection on the website) they’re sent because we do a very very good job of making bespoke furniture for people that rightfully expect a little bit more.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you a happy new year from all at Couture Furniture.  After a fab Christmas break we are straight back to making fine furniture for the contemporary home. Whether you need a piece of furniture to house your new wardrobe, AV equipment or Christmas DVD’s or simply want to treat yourself, here at Couture your dreams can be realised to your exact requirements. The following piece is an AV cabinet that was designed to hold a large flatscreen TV and AV equipment. The drawers have been specially designed to house DVD’s in one drawer and Guitar Hero in the other. A simple sliding door guarantees easy access to audio visual and gaming equipment. A stainless steel base was engineered to ensure that the large flatscreen would be well supported but be invisible except for the legs. We used a 10% water based lacquer, choosing oak to compliment the flooring, with a standard RAL Light grey nicely complimenting the rest of the interior.

The following shows an example of a headboard which was designed around an existing bed and headboard. The timber headboard has an alcove for the fabric headboard with a polished black acrylic back panel giving an effect of subtle reflected light framing the bed. Features include 2 x illuminated shelves, 2 x reading lights and 2 x box shelves also with concealed night lighting with all the wiring concealed and black rocker switches dicreetly but conveniently positioned. In the rear of the open box shelves are telephone and power sockets (also black) for powered bedside items. Although it’s not entirely clear in the photograph a stepped plinth lightens the whole look of the headboard lifting it in line with the skirting board. If you are interested in having a piece of furniture designed and made for you by Couture call Rupert Kingston on 0207 272 4206 or email at mail@couturefurniture.com, alternatively there’s an enquiry and brochure request form on the main website where you can see many more examples of bespoke furniture designed and made by Couture.

Bespoke Furniture Solutions

At Couture Furniture we endeavour to find a solution to all of your bespoke furniture requirements, this is after all the joy of going down the bespoke furniture route. We can make furniture to fit in any space and ensure it meets your exact specifications, whether you want to match existing furniture, replace it or create a show piece for your home, here at Couture our aim is to ensure the best possible solution for you and your home.  The following photo shows an example of a home office in a loft room, with one wall dedicated to storage space for office files and equipment such as a printer and fax machine. The sliding doors on the cupboards and shelving units ensure quick and easy access. The large desk space is fully cable routed with a removable panel below keeping all the plugs and cables tidies away, to the right side of the desk is a suspended drawer unit underneath the desktop with discreet side handles. The burgundy coloured top is made from a highly durable, natural material called Forbo which is a contemporary desktop surface, a naturally anti-static material which prevents dust and dirt sticking to it and keeps the surface clean and free of fingerprints. The top has been finished with a complementary solid oak lipping.

This next piece shows a contemporary wall to wall streamlined desk space with two large white oak storage cabinets with a lacquer finish. The solid oak lipping creates an attractive finish to the pebble coloured Forbo top, a high quality natural material which is warm to the touch. Both cabinets have storage space for pens and double hanging file lower drawers. The dropped ends are for printers, a requirement of the customer who wanted the printers to be level with the surface of the desk.

Couture furniture specialise in fitted and free standing contemporary furniture for the home. Here is a beautiful free standing 5 drawer cabinet we made recently and finished in a shimmering gold metallic. The base and drawers of the cabinet are made from solid walnut which can also be seen through the circular finger holes. This feature along with the slender 6mm bevel edged glass top, the warm golden tones and fine proportions add together to create an elegant piece of contemporary furniture.

Bespoke Furniture by Couture

We have had a busy summer here at Couture producing the best in contemporary furniture throughout London and across the country.  All of our work is made by our highly skilled craftsmen who have a passion for making beautiful pieces of furniture. Each piece is made and tested in our workshop in London and then taken apart for transportation to your home where the craftsmen will then install the furniture with the utmost care and attention. If you would like to commission furniture from us please feel free to call us on 0207 272 4206 and we can guide you through the bespoke process and answer any of your queries.

To give you a flavour of what we have been up to over the summer I have a selection of pieces to post, starting with this sleek high gloss sideboard that was made to fit around a chimney breast. The top in black Parapan, is a slender 4mm. The sideboard is supported on a 40×40mm stainless steel base. The five drop flap doors are opened by a neatly designed finger pull on the top edge of the door.

By choosing to go down the bespoke route, the customer is able to have their exact specifications met including colour, size and materials. This next piece,  a rich red high gloss bedroom cabinet has both drop flap doors and drawers fulfilling the customers requirements of being able to store both AV equipment and clothing. The cabinet is finely proportioned with 12mm sides and 4mm profiling around the drawers, creating an elegant yet striking piece for the bedroom.

Here is a custom built 3m long AV cabinet with five drop flap soft close doors for media storage, complete with cable management and adjutable shelves for easy installation of AV equipment. A contemporary shadow gap detail has been used around the sides and underneath the cabinet to create a separation from the floor.For this piece we used book matched crown cut white oak with a simple yet effective geometric design on the front which is complimented by a satin off white interior finish.

We only make bespoke furniture…..

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog, and there’s lots of new pieces to post. I’ll start with a large bookcase that sits in front of a sofa, had to make it so the lower storage was accessible behind doors and looked right with the sofa. So it was designed around the room and the sofa, the doors are sliding, the height of the first shelf is the same as the sofa back. there is a 12mm frame all round to make it seem a bit more delicate and detailed and a 10mm gap at the top and bottom, 5 at the rear, just to make it float a little. The blue back was chosen by the client to match an azure blue in a vase.

I will post other pictures of our recent bespoke pieces, thankfully we are busy and still producing the best in contemporary designed bespoke furniture, so the updates maybe sporadic. If you’d like to know more about our work have a look through the main site and gallery at www.couturefurniture.com or contact Rupert Kingston directly on 0207 272 4206, or mail@couturefurniture.com

Bespoke furniture for alcoves

Here’s a few pictures of some freestanding pieces made for unmatched alcoves. The veneer is Bombay rosewood, note how it’s matched across the doors and drawer fronts, with a dark red lacquered interior, the leg design is particularly high to clear the skirting and radiator on the left or the door wouldn’t open fully. The 2 pieces work as a pair but have different configurations according to their proportions. These pieces were designed to for a bedroom as feature pieces with plenty of storage and useful internal drawers with cable routes for things like mobile phone chargers, they’re a good example of why having bespoke pieces made isn’t restricted to fitted pieces, all bespoke furniture should achieve a higher level of functionality, quality and relevant design, in this instance it would be difficult to find a pair of cabinets that sat so well in the unequally sized alcoves and functioned the way the end user wished without commissioning the design and manufacture of them.

If you’d like to know more about the process of commissioning bespoke furniture form Couture Furniture please view our main website at www.couturefurniture.com, you’ll need a Flash player which is easily installed by following the links if you haven’t already got it pre-installed on your browser, alternatively call Rupert Kingston on 0207 272 4206 to discuss having your furniture designed and made by Couture.

Couture Furniture new website

We are still here and busier than ever. The new website is now up with lots of new projects shown in the gallery, the blog’s been quiet as the website gallery has been taking up a lot of my publishing time. There’s some new bespoke furniture to put on the blog before another website update so check back for the most recent pieces, we don’t photograph everything just the pieces I think give people a flavour of what we do. There’s a link to the blog on the website on the home page and the flash page now, have a look

http://www.couturefurniture.com

more BESPOKE FURNITURE from COUTURE

We’ve been going much further afield lately and have recently completed this piece in Devon, it had to fit in with the room which had a very distinctive shape and layout, we set in the oak plinth to match the skirting so although it’s a big free standing piece looks really integrated. The TV section has a single sliding door, the right side has a drinks cabinet and open oak shelf with storage cabinet below.

Bespoke furniture – studio flat

Here’s a recently completed wardrobe, AV cabinet and desk for a very compact flat. This is a great example of how we work, designing and making a piece of furniture to fit and function perfectly, the wardrobes flank the TV aperture, the high level window didn’t allow the wardrobes to run full width so the bookcase steps back creating a niche area above the desk. The desk is all cable managed including a space for the printer under the bookcase, the red top is Forbo desktop linoleum, a great material for writing on and 100% natural, we’ve edged the desk in walnut to match the floor all other finishes are sprayed semi mat lacquer to match a popular paint swatch. To see many other examples of bespoke furniture scroll down through our blog, be sure to visit the main site at www.couturefurniture.com and request a consultation with a designer or just a brochure for now.

Couture furniture designs and makes some of the very finest contemporary bespoke furniture available today, we are a London based with full workshop facilities, all our furniture is hand made in the UK by master craftsmen.

Bespoke furniture, a definition

A recent article in the Independent by Martin Hickman on the decline of Saville Row explains that the adjective bespoke comes from “bespeak”, to order. The article is about how the street famed for bespoke tailoring is in decline, cheaper alternatives and a lack of trained tailors are contributing factors, there’s several obvious parallels with bespoke furniture manufacture and what we do at Couture Furniture.

We too suffer from misuse of the term bespoke. It’s not correct to call something bespoke if it already exists and is just being assembled as a number of possible combinations, a bit like kitchens that are made from a series of standard size carcasses with a range of options to choose from. This is not the same as having something designed and made from scratch, if the cabinets need to be 590mm wide instead of a standard 600mm to get the perfect fit then that’s what will be made, that’s bespoke, made to order, not modified to suit.

All our pieces have been made by trained craftsmen, some of whom have been put through college by ourselves, although sadly the part time City and Guilds Cabinet Making course at London Met University is no longer being offered. The majority have approached us having already studied a related discipline to degree level and want to continue their chosen field. It’s very rewarding profession, making beautiful things for appreciative customers is a great combination for feeling good about what one does with their day!

Bespoke AV furniture

Here’s a recently completed piece, wall to wall cabinet, dropped to clear the ceiling cornice, with high level gas assisted flap doors, walnut backed top lit glass display shelves and sliding doors for the large TV, again on a walnut back, note the grain pattern is centred to each panel, and low level centre media storage drawers and side cabinets. All finished in almost matt sprayed lacquer off white colour with clear satin on the walnut.

The unit measures approximately 3.3m wide x 2.3m high and was designed specifically to fit the room and TV. A similar piece would cost in the region of £6,500 + VAT, which at the moment is discounted by 2.5%!! Check back witht he Couture blog to see the most recent installations, a new website is coming soon!

Contemporary furniture

With so much choice out there it’s difficult to know what modern furniture actually is, does it mean that it’s produced using modern methods? Or looks like 60’s office furniture? Or looks new, has a brand new form? The latter is the least likely, as with all things produced they need to perform a function, be practical at least, furniture has been with us for centuries and it’s language is a part of our everyday lives, for example a chair and table are linked historically through form and function, all we really get  to choose is a style.

It’s no bad thing, but style is formed by all sorts of dictations, budget is up first, how much will it cost, how much will it sell for, who would pay that, does it look and feel like something that person would appreciate. It’s a difficulty faced by all designers, they can dream up incredible forms that would break the norm, stimulate our desire for the new and ground breaking, even improve our very well being! But actually, this isn’t what all designers dream of, imagine being given an unlimited budget, design the best, I don’t care what it costs, where would you start with that? The first dilemma must be what’s the best material to use? Followed shortly after by why is it the best material? It’s not a proper brief to design something successful as it doesn’t provide a solution, the best design for a raft is one that will float.

Let’s take designing a dining table as an example. “I want the best dining table you can design and make, money’s no object”. First thing any good designer is going to want to know is where is the best dining table going to go, and then measure that space. That takes care of the size, also when the designer measured the room they got a feel for the light in the room natural and artificial, the scale of the windows, floor material, wall heights, other bits and bobs making up features like fireplaces, skirting, colour, let’s say an overall style of the room was appreciated, just with the size of the room and feel of the room a designer can really start to design the “best” table.

Yup, we’re back to bespoke furniture! It’s all about the location, that’s where the design starts. It’s hard work designing something good that’s going to be retailed, it’s either compromised by budget or has to tick too many boxes and ends up as a “neutral” design. Having said that I bought a 2 pieces of retail furniture recently, coincidentally a dining table and chairs, the Louis table by John Reeves, clever, neat and playful bit of work and very good value and 6 Ghost chairs by Stark, which also have a clever Versaille theme. Just goes to show it doesn’t always have to be bespoke and as much as I carry on about it there are good products out there being mass produced, just wish my new table could seat 12 though!!

Going bespoke

Going for bespoke furniture is much easier than you might think. You probably have a clear idea of what you need the furniture to do and have some preferences as to how it looks. The key to choosing a good designer and maker for your furniture is identifying and liking their style of work, there’s not much point in going to a contemporary bespoke furniture company and asking them to make a period piece, they will probably have all that’s required to make it, but if what they’ve spent their time getting good at isn’t what you’re after then it’s not a good place to start.

Designer makers will have spent many years perfecting how it’s made, why it looks the way it does, the subtleties in the finishes and detailing in the forms will be natural to them, the best commissions come from a trust in the designer, having seen a body of work that demonstrates the style and quality of the furniture and also trust in the manufacturing, this is achieved not only with good facilities, it’s worth noting here that a well equipped workshop does not come cheap, however what’s even more important than a workshop full of expensive equipment is the people that work in it, they’re absolutely critical to the success of a commission. Good cabinet makers put something of themselves into making each piece of furniture, it’s not like assembling a mass manufactured product, each piece is different, each piece must be considered and constructed differently yet the end result must be the same, beautiful furniture that functions perfectly.

Couture Furniture’s cabinet makers are the heart and sole of the company, it’s not only their trained skills demonstrated daily in making pieces of furniture from scratch as beautiful as the examples you can see on our website, yet this is only half of their skill set because excellent customer service makes up the other half. It’s not like having builders in your home, each piece has been made and tested in our workshop, taken apart and packed for transportation to your home, our craftsmen are also the installers, this makes complete sense because they’ve already made the piece in the workshop, you can expect your home to be treated just as the furniture you’ve commissioned, with the utmost care and attention.

If you’d like to speak to us about commissioning a piece of furniture please call Rupert Kingston on 0207 272 4206 or email MAIL@COUTUREFURNITURE.COM

Bespoke versus production

For many people the idea of bespoke work means it’s going to be prohibitively expensive, it’s true that to commission a craftsmen to make a single item is likely to cost more than a factory producing hundreds of the same product, this isn’t just because it will be made by hand, it’s also because by making just one a lot more care and attention can be applied to the piece. Contemporary furniture isn’t all about shape size and colour, good furniture will always be about construction quality and detail, you can see the furniture that’s going to end up in a skip long before, it’s in the details and what it’s made of, at the other end of the scale where you can see contemporary furniture that has been laboured over and produced with love it’s difficult to imagine it being dumped, or replaced with something newer, well designed and well made furniture will outlast the changes in fashion, the trend for Danish 60’s sideboards is a good example, good design from 40 plus years ago looking right at home in contemporary interiors, so much so that many production pieces are clearly inspired by the designs of the past.

Once you start to look at high quality furniture and avoid cheap composite materials like chipboard and mass manufacture surfaces like laminates and foil wraps the difference in cost between bespoke and production is very slight, in some cases as I’ve quoted before, “we are still not as expensive as B&B Italia” a high end designer furniture supplier. If you want good quality products then they come from companies that know how to make them, and be wary of quality ranges, where there’s a budget and a high end option, often the high end pieces are made exactly the same way with contemporary styling, this doesn’t represent modern furniture or modern furniture design only current trends and the idea that’s what’s new costs more. If you look at the prices some of the antiques command they have held or increased their original costs, justifiably so, they’re normally very well made, beautiful and represent the style of the time with the designer and makers own personal touch, it’s difficult to imagine these traits being applicable to some of the furniture available from the larger retailers today.

Today’s antiques were once contemporary, if they’re still around today and desirable it’s because they were well designed and well made, this is still true for contemporary furniture, but modern mass production technology doesn’t lend itself to individually tailored items, most pieces will be designed from a price backwards, that is to say what price would the majority of customers pay for a dining table, this is not an ideal starting point, assumptions about the customer and their home are the opposite starting point to our process, a bespoke piece from Couture hasn’t started until one of our designers has met you and seen where the piece is intended to go. The mass production design route includes easy installation, this will enivitably mean design compromises, because a piece from Couture is made and installed by the same craftsmen you can expect something perfectly fitted, no compromise. The best design is not always about using all the space and fitting the furniture, with freestanding pieces the principles of good design and fabrication are the same, for instance a dining table from us may well cost several thousand pounds but what you get is a piece of modern furniture that has been personally and perfectly made, something of interest and not just an item that is available for purchase to anyone, it will have something of you ingrained in it and will last a lifetime.

Bespoke furniture to improve your home

Any contemporary home will benefit from bespoke furniture, bespoke meaning ‘made to measure’. When you’re in need of a new table, a sideboard, a wardrobe or home office desk it can mean days of searching for the product that’s right both functionally and aesthetically. For a piece of production furniture it’s difficult to design in everything and keep the costs down, so compromises are made, and the end user has to make do.

By going bespoke you get what you want, exactly what you want. With Couture Furniture the bespoke process involves briefing a designer about what the furniture has got to do, like hide a TV, or provide a work surface and filing, or seat 12 people comfortably for dinner etc. A design proposal is presented and reviewed with the customer, details and materials are discussed and agreed before commissioning the piece to be manufactured. At Couture all the furniture is manufactured using timbers with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approval for sustainability by master craftsmen, some of whom have been with us since leaving school and gone on to complete professional qualifications through day release at college and others who have studied full time degrees in furniture studies and furniture design. They all work in our London workshop, upholding the tradition of British furniture making at it’s best, they can rightly pride themselves on the quality of the furniture they are designing and producing.

To start the process for getting your own piece of bespoke furniture designed and made by Couture please follow the links through the main website to the enquiry form in the contact us section. You’ll see many more example of bespoke furniture made by Couture in the gallery section.

Contemporary furniture from Couture

At Couture we strive to make the best bespoke furniture money can buy, it can be an expensive process but as a general rule with individually manufactured products you get what you pay for, what costs is the time of a craftsman making sure a piece is everything and more any customer would expect. Here’s CEO’s desk we designed and made to order, black stained tulipwood with silver anodised aluminium articulation, internal cable management and concealed drawer in the floating pedestal.

Modern furniture in bedrooms

Like all other pieces of modern furniture unless they function well the aesthetic is meaningless unless it does actually function as named, for instance a wardrobe may well appear quite lovely and in the right place in the room but if you can’t find anything in it because it’s a mess of overloaded shelves and bowing hanging rails then it’s fair to say it’s not doing it’s job properly.

Couture’s designers and craftspeople are not magicians! We obviously can’t create more space than is actually available, but what we can do is organise space to maximise it. Pull down hanging rails, integrated drawers and integrated shoe rails are some of the standard devices that we apply to this effect, that’s after we’ve designed the cabinets to use as much of the space as possible, we’re not limited to any modular products, our cabinets and drawers are designed and made as one offs, there’s no wasted space and no odd sized filler panels, everything is perfectly made and fitted to make the most of the room and provide the best piece of modern furniture you can buy.

It’s not always a case of making a fitted piece of furniture, often a set of wardrobes will work best fully fitted, scribed tight to the walls
and keeping an even floor plan with one wall dedicated to storage. Sometimes it’s better to resist the urge to use all the space and instead design a large freestanding piece that allows doorways and other room features to sit along side comfortably, this can be a practical solution for rented properties or where the customer wants to be able to move and take the furniture with them, in this instance our designers consider a more versatile design that will allow for removal.

Contemporary Furniture in Home Offices

Even in period property the home is often populated with contemporary furniture, often it’s a welcome addition to a modern lifestyle in areas of high activity and function like kitchens. The furniture if well positioned and appointed helps us use our homes and allows us to get the most out of our time spent in them, this isn’t untrue of any other piece of furniture in the other rooms in our homes. Modern furniture like a modern kitchen can make a space, and like badly fitted kitchens can ruin it, the kitchen scenario is less common because most kitchen designs are modular and linear allowing units to be added or subtracted as required, the classic error being the ill advised island or peninsular addition, more storage of course but compromising the space and the users movements through it.

The difference with bespoke is that the design isn’t driven from a modular product, it begins with the space and how one wants to use it. This is the key difference in using a company like Couture Furniture who only produce bespoke furniture. Each piece is a contemporary furniture design in direct response to it’s function and location, our home office furniture examples are excellent illustrations of this, the variety of designs isn’t just a showcase of style, they are all different because the space and user had different requirements on each occasion, and equally importantly the room almost always has had a variety of previous uses, often migrating to a study through haphazard stages of furniture. In some cases the user has a clear understanding of the way the room has been used and what the functional requirements are to be, we just need to package this into a piece of contemporary furniture that suits both function and taste, a different brief maybe that the user hasn’t established a room or way of working but has an idea of what would be ideal but is wary of plonking a piece of modern production furniture into the room and hoping it performs as a study and looks appealing.

The look and feel is easily overlooked, the study needs to be conducive to actually using it, it’s not a piece of ornamental furniture. Part of a successful look is a considered integration into the room, sympathetic design to the existing boundaries is something we know how to do very well, another part of the look is how clean it looks. This can be a satisfying soft close drawer action, or a full set of sliding and folding doors to close off the whole piece when not in use, or just well organised storage so that it never seems overflowing with paperwork, cables and paraphernalia!

Bespoke furniture from Couture Furniture

Our workshop produces high end bespoke cabinets for AV equipment. We design and manufacture contemporary furniture and modern fitted furniture for clients who want the very best in modern bespoke furniture, below is a high gloss AV sideboard with 2 integrated floor standing sub woofers (not as simple as it sounds) all supported on a brushed stainless steel frame with vented shelving base and cable routing between compartments. The exterior colour was matched, exactly, to an existing coffee table.

Bespoke furniture

Couture Furniture have designed and manufactured bespoke furniture, modern furniture, contemporary furniture and fitted furniture for bedrooms, lounges, studies, AV cabinets. There’s plenty of examples of bespoke furniture on our website, you’ll need the flash plug in to view anything other then the blog, www.couturefurniture.com

More bespoke furniture

Bedroom furniture from Couture Furniture, bespoke furniture designers and manufacturers, making contemporary furniture for classic and modern homes. Here’s a headboard with movement switched recessed light wells, lift up soft down lids to storage cabinets along the top and double soft closing drawers in the bedside cabinets.

Contemporary furniture

We’ve been busy making the best contemporary bespoke furniture in our London studio and workshop for sometime now, have a look at www.couturefurniture.com gallery for more examples.

Bespoke furniture from Couture

Modern furniture has a clean look to it, and this is applied to utility furniture like built in wardrobes, even in the loft spaces. Here we’ve produced a set of fitted wardrobes in a contemporary furniture style with modern internal fitting and soft close drawers. This is hwere bespoke furniture is not so indulgent as functional, had it not been bespoke and designed and fitted professionally the room would have not been as successful, the single line of doors has kept the room plan feeling precise and regular, the storage has been maximised and completely hidden.

Contemporary furniture

At Couture we produce the best in contemporary furniture, each piece is bespoke, it’s designed to fit, function and look perfect, our modern furniture range extends to soft furnishings too, here’s a hallway sofa with oak frame and arms.

For more contemporary furniture, modern furniture, bespoke furniture examples see our gallery at http://www.couturefurniture.com/gotflash/gotflash.html

Contemporary Furniture range from Rupert Kingston director of Couture Furniture

We are busy producing a contemporary furniture range that will complement our fully bespoke service. The modern furniture range will have some degree of flexibility as each piece will still be made to order, customers can specify cabling routes and ventilation as well as lighting and finishes. Shown is an alcove display cabinet that can be configured for AV, options include cornice lighting (shown) glass doors, vented cabinets, side opening or drop flap doors.

Modern furniture from Couture

More modern furniture for AV equipment. Couture produce a lot of AV cabinets with dedicated cabinets for components with routing and venting built into the design, contemporary furniture for contemporary homes. We produce home office furniture, fitted furniture and freestanding pieces, all bespoke pieces of contemporary furniture. Shown is a wall hung AV sideboard with additional support by stainless steel blades, internal acid orange coloured lacquer finish housing  AV components with media storage drawers.

Modern furniture every home needs!

Here’s a hallway piece of bespoke furniture hand made in our London workshop, a shoe rack accommodating a radiator and 2 drawers all in white oak.

We make modern furniture for almost all areas of the home, from home office furniture to fitted furniture like wardrobes and AV cabinets.

More bespoke furniture

Couture Furniture have produced a AV cabinet in high gloss white polished lacquer with red polished lacquer internally to match an existing coffee table from another designer furniture company. Couture furniture make the very best in contemporary furniture, whether it’s home office furniture, AV furniture, fitted furniture or freestanding furniture, Couture Furniture make the best in modern bespoke furniture.

Home office furniture

One of the rooms Couture Furniture are asked to design bespoke furniture for is the home office. The study or home office requires dedicated furniture that complements the home and doesn’t appear like a collection of office furniture cast offs cobbled together to make do. We design the home office furniture from scratch, we don’t have a set of cabinets to start with, we design every part as a one off to make the most of the space, the realtively high cost of a bespoke home office is justified in it’s functionality and looks.

Bespoke furniture from Couture Furniture

If you’re looking for contemporary furniture, fitted furniture or glamorous freestanding pieces like AV sideboards then we have been producing fantastic pieces of bespoke furniture for individual clients for 4 years now, we make each piece to order, but more importantly we design each piece to fit it’s location. Our products start at £2000 upwards, for more examples scroll through the blog and then take a look at www.couturefurniture.com, if you like what you see call or email Rupert Kingston using the contact form on the website to discuss commissioning a piece.

Bespoke DJ cabinets

Couture Furniture continue to make the very best in contemporary furniture. Here’s a recent DJ cabinet, finished in soft feel black suede, lif up lid with black lacquer interior, pull out CDJ trays, CD drawer and lower amp and component storage, all sat on a mirror polished stainless steel frame. This cost a lot, but if you’ve got to have the best then that’s what we produce, home offices, walk in wardrobes, AV cabinets, all at www.couturefurniture.com bespoke furniture, contemporary furniture at it’s very best, designed and made in London, England.

Contemporary furniture

A freewheeling pedestal cabinet to supplement a kitchen (we made the kitchen too) with white lacquer finish and 4mm Corian top to make it practical for spills and hot objects, 4mm profiling all round for a more elegant proportion to the visible edges. Couture are making the best contemporary furniture available, hand made and designed in London, England.

Alcove Home office furniture

Here’s a good example of why you should go bespoke; this is a living room with 2 alcoves and an ornate fireplace, the furniture needs to be contemporary, functional and complement the room, plus when not in use not look like a home office. We made a pair of bespoke cabinets to balance the alcoves the one pictured has pull out desk, vented cabinet for the CPU and internal cable management, a powder coated steel frame supports the whole unit.

Contemporary Furniture range from Rupert Kingston director of Couture Furniture

Rupert Kingston director of Couture Furniture is designing a range of products that will be offered as a standard items with a choice of colour and material options, AV based products will feature highly the 2 following examples will be the first to launch on the forthcoming website overhaul. Couture Furniture is committed to extending it’s range of contemporary furniture whilst being able to offer a customised and fully bespoke furniture service to it’s customers.

The very best in Bespoke Furniture

Here at Couture Furniture we design and produce from scratch the best in Contemporary Furniture, each piece is hand made by master craftsmen who have studied to be able to make high quality furniture using both traditional and modern techniques. The pictures show a dining table, benches and carver chairs designed in our studio and then made in our London workshop. For the very best in Modern designed furniture, fitted or freestanding, home office and AV cabinets at www.couturefurniture.com

Bespoke furniture

Here are some floating bookcases designed and made by Couture Furniture in our London workshop.

Some of the best contemporary furniture is being produced daily in our workshop, have a look at www.couturefurniture.com for more examples of all types

of fitted furniture, freestanding furniture and many more examples of contemporary bespoke furniture.

Fitted wardrobes

These pictures were taken by Adam the workshop manager on his phone, so excuse the quality, they made the blog because it’s so typical of our wardrobes, that I don’t really go and photograph them anymore! Here we have a double door wardrobe with mirror, door switched lighting, 2 deep drawers and fixed upper shelf, internally finished in pink (for a girl’s bedroom) and sprayed flat white lacquer externally, scribed on the left and with a deep framing panel before the chimney breast. Modern furniture, fitted furniture or freestanding contemporary furniture is designed and made by Couture, have a look at www.couturefurniture.com for many more examples of modern bespoke furniture.

Contemporary furniture from Couture

We made these bedside cabinets from polished acrylic and mirror polished stainless steel. Clean lines, soft close action, modern materials and the very best in service is par for the course at Couture. More examples of contemporary furniture, bespoke furniture, home office furniture, AV
cabinets and bedroom furniture all made bespoke at www.couturefurniture.com

More bespoke furniture, a new home office

Here’s another stunning home designed and manufactured by Couture. Freewheeling pedestals and lots of storage plus wrap around desking.

There’s a lot more bespoke office furniture for AV systems, bedrooms and home offices at www.couturefurniture.com

Couture Furniture design and make some of the very best contemporary furniture, all handmade by English master-craftsmen in London.

Home office furniture

A recently completed home office or home study shown below, with corner filing storage, a combination of open shelves and push to open filing drawers.

There’s more to see at www.couturefurniture.com  in the study section, and plaenty of other examples of bespoke furniture from Couture.

What Is Modern Furniture?

Modern furniture is often defined as furniture influenced by modernism.  This refers to furniture produced from the late 19th century up to the present day.

Prior to this, furniture had traditionally been made from dark, carved wood such as dark mahogany, with rich patterned fabrics.

The influence of modernism produced modern furniture made from polished metals with simple lines, giving a lighter look.

Contemporary furniture designers nowadays continue to evolve, always seeking new materials and simplistic looks.  This gives the modern look of chic, clean and elegant furniture.

The origins of these designs were well before the 1960’s and were not produced until the mid 20th century, yet they are still seen as contemporary, modern furniture.

History of Walter Adolph Gropius, founder of Bauhaus

The Bauhaus School was a German design school responsible for some of the most modern architectural and furniture designs of the 20th Century. It ran from 1919 through to 1933 and was founded by the architect Walter Gropius Weimar.
Born in Berlin in 1883, Walter Gropius Weimar was the son of a building advisor to the German government.
Gropius founded the Bauhaus school of design, where the students were taught to create modern looking furniture and architecture using innovative materials.
When the Nazi party rose to power in the thirties, Gropius left his native Germany for Britain and then America.
Bauhaus remains an important movement in the field of design and the furniture inspired by the Bauhaus movement is still produced and sought after today.

Contemporary Furniture Designer Ettore Sottsass

If you have a keen interest in modern furniture design, then you will have heard of Ettore Sottsass.  Unfortunately, Sotsass passed away on 31st December 2007 and as a result, there has been a resurgence in discussion of Memphis Design.  Here we pay tribute to the life of Ettore Sottsass.

Born in September 1917, Sottsass grew up in Milan with his architect father.  He graduated in 1939 with a degree in architecture himself but joined the Italiam military and spent most of World War II in a Yugoslavian concentration camp.  After the war, he set up an Italian architectural design studio back in Milan.

In 1959, he began working as a design consultant, designing Olivetti technical equipment such as typewriters and calculators and their office furniture.  He won Italy’s highest design award for his redesign of the Olivetti computer in 1959 by adding blocks of colour and lowering the machine so workers could see each other over the top.

At the grand age of 64, Sottsass joined forces with a group of 30-something designers in 1981 to form the Memphis Group.  They launched with a collection of just 40 items, including amongst others, furniture, lighting and ceramics.  Their iconic, colourful designs made history attracting many famous clients such as Knoll International, Esprit and the Italian furniture company Poltronova.  In 2006, the Los Angeles Museum of Art exhibited his work in the US and in 2007 the London Design Museum held the Ettore Sottsass: Work in Progress exhibition.

Ettore Sottsass will be sorely missed as a great modern furniture designer.

Contemporary Furniture Materials & Design

Contemporary furniture designers are always looking to produce their sleek, simple lines with new materials.  Polished metals and bright colours give a visually pleasing look to chic, simple rooms of a modern design.

When new materials such as steel were first used, they were considered shocking by some and pioneering by others.  Combined with plastic, these new creations, first produced in the late 20th century, were completely different to anything used before.

Modern furniture designers moved away from dark, carved wood with patterned fabric to steel, molded plywood and plastics.  They combined the relatively new disciplines of technology and art, using new materials and innovative methods.  They used solid blocks of plain colour without any pattern or markings.

German art, Japanese simplicity and eastern philosophy were all cited as early influences on the first modern furniture designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Eileen Gray and Lilly Reich.  These contemporary furniture designers made mass production possible, bringing their modern designs to the masses.

History of the Eames Lounge Chair

The Eames Lounge chair has created much debate among experts surrounding its place within the environment. It’s is argued that chair doesn’t sit well, if you pardon the pun, when grouped together with its brethren. Instead the chair is best seen as a solitary icon, standing proud without another to detract from its style.
As the Eames Lounge Chair is a furniture piece of such quality, it did suffer from being copied in the Nineties. The subject of plagiarism has since been addressed through legal measures; ensuring that its classic, iconic design is preserved so that is the sole domain of the Eames Lounge Chair.
The chair is actually very difficult to assemble anyway, which has made it very difficult to copy. To stave of future copies, the chair has been identified legally has having the following characteristics.
•    The Eames Lounge Chair has smooth, moulded, curved shells
•    The shells are visible from the underside, from the rear, the sides and below the chair.
•    The edges of the shell are exposed from the front.
•    The moulded shells are in the shape of a flattened ‘U’.
•    The moulded shells have cushioned opholstery.
•    The moulded shells come with buttons that form creases in the upholstery.
•    The read of the chair has two moulded shells which are connected to two exposed bars, angled so that they tilt the upper moulded shell forward of the lower shell.
•    The angled bars are spaced away from the moulded shells.
•    The armrests are upholstered and they extend downwards into the chair itself, connecting the two back shells to the moulded seat.

Examples of Modern Furniture

Below are three early, famous iconic examples of modern furniture.

Eileen Gray’s Side Table

Eileen Gray designed a home for herself and Jean Badovici in France called the E-1027.  For the guest room, she designed a special side table in 1927 at the request of her sister.  The asymmetry of the table is typical of her ‘non-conformist’ style but has specific utility because it not only functions as a side table, but is also made so it can be adapted to use for eating breakfast in bed.

Noguchi Coffee Table

This Noguchi Coffee Table is one of the most sought after pieces of modern furniture in history.  Noguchi was a half-American, half-Japanese modern furniture designer, famous for organic modern designs.

The Barcelona Chair

The Barcelona Chair is the piece of modern furniture most associated with the famous Bauhaus design.  It was designed in 1929 by Lilly Reich and Mies Van Der Rohe in Barcelona for a design fair and they dedicated its design to the Spanish royal family.  Apparently, it was inspired by the folding chairs of the Egyptian Pharaohs and the footstools of the Romans.

These three modern furniture icons are just a few of the famous modern furniture pieces admired by those who follow the modernism design movement.

How To Arrange Furniture In Your Living Room

The living room is arguably one of the most important rooms in your home, so one that you will want to get right.  It’s the room where you and your family will congregate, one where you will welcome visitors and relax.  The living room is a room where you will spend a lot of time and creates a lasting impression of you and your home.

Whether you decide to go for a more contemporary look with modern furniture or whether you choose to have a more traditional feel, these guidelines will help you decide how to arrange your furniture to get the best from your living room:

Although it may seem tedious, many people find it helpful to start by creating a floorplan of the room so they can see how things will look and fit in the room.  This is especially helpful if you will be buying a few key pieces or even commissioning a new piece of furniture

Once you have your floorplan, decide upon a focal point to the room.  This might be your entertainment centre such as where your television is located, or the fireplace or you may decide to use a large window, but decide upon your focal point

Arrange your furniture around the focal point.  Ensure that your furniture complements the focal point but avoid unnecessary congestion

Learn About Modern Furniture with Fay Sweet

If you’re looking to learn about modern furniture, there is a great book by Fay Sweet called Vintage Furniture: Collecting & Living With Modern Design Classics.

The book contains an overview of modern furniture from the late 19th century when modern furniture designs were just starting to be introduced into production.

It includes a summary of all the early influencers such as the Bauhaus, Ruhlmann, Rietveld, Thonet and then onto the Scandinavian influencers such as Wegner, Aalto, Jacobsen and more.  Charles and Ray Eames are included of course, as is Noguchi and other modern furniture greats.

Where you will find this book really comes into its own is with its sections on post- and pop-modernism.  Since Ettore Sottsass passed away in December 2007, there have been many articles talking about Memphis design and this book will explain what everyone is talking about.

This book is an excellent tutor on classic and modern furniture design and one that should be highly recommended.

Make The Most Of Your Alcoves

Alcoves can really make or break a room.  If not used correctly, alcoves can be a waste of space and make a room look and feel unattractive.

On the other hand, when used properly alcoves can become a focal point of a room and enhance a room’s character, particularly when used correctly in conjunction with modern furniture.

Alcoves need to blend into a room.  They make ideal architectural features and the lighting should be appropriate for the items stored in them.  Alcoves don’t have to be limited to housing just a few shelves that quickly become covered in dust.

Have a look round our site for a few contemporary ideas.  If you are looking for the sleek, minimalist look of modern furniture design, our slide open drawer shelves are ideal for shutting away all of the clutter.  You could also have a combination of cupboards and shelves with some low level lighting for an atmospheric feel.  Alternatively, you could go for the clean, simple lines of one or two select shelves.

Alcoves don’t have to ruin the contemporary feel you’re looking for.

Marcel Breuer

Marcel Breuer began his career in the mid 1920’s as a teacher at Germany’s famous Bauhaus school of art, then moving on to London in 1935 where he designed furniture for the Isometric Unit Construction Company.
Breuer had a love of working with metal, but was told that the British market was too traditional to accept metal furniture into their homes at the time, so had to adapt to working with plywood.
Breuer took to working with wood so well that the first wave of designs he crafted are now seen by many as landmarks of design for the 20 Century. He created five pieces where he utilised the plywood to make the best out of the material, forming it into a fluid, sinuous design. The furniture pieces included an armchair and a nest of tables.
Although regarded as design icons now, Breuer was his own biggest critic and, much like with his earlier career, was full of doubts on the designs he was creating.

Bespoke lounge AV cabinet

Large AV display cabinet, with Wengé lipping , back panel and sliding door, all other finishes are white sprayed lacquer. Drop flap doors for AV component access, lower storage drawer and deep shelving for objects and books, all cable managed internally and invisibly.

Bespoke ebony macassar lounge cabinet

Here’s a recently finished TV stand with integrated component cabinets and drawers, sitting on a powder coated steel base with bookmatched ebony doors and finished internally in lime green lacquer.

Bespoke kitchen in oak

A kitchen with plain white lacquered upper cabinets, dimmable countertop lighting, book-matched oak base with custom designed aluminium insert handles and marble top and splashback.

more bespoke home office furniture

Fully fitted to sides and ceiling home study with double filing drawers and additional storage all flush fronted and finished in light blue sprayed lacquer.

More bespoke furniture…

Full width double alcove AV unit with floating shelves and lift flap upper cabinets.

Super thin top in high gloss black acrylic.

Bespoke home office furniture

A fully fitted home study with sliding and folding doors to hide everything away.

Oak back panels with sprayed satin lacquer colour matched to the walls. Filing drawers, soft close pen and paper drawers, cable management all designed and built as required.

Macassar ebony wall and sliding partition

Bespoke alcove home study

Bespoke alcove study.  A floating base unit houses a pull out desk lipped in aluminium and a arrangement below for printers and cabling. Above is a filing/storage cabinet and open floating shelf, all finished in sprayed lacquer.

Bespoke sofa – double sided

Bespoke double sided hallway sofa with stainless steel base and upholstered in a Roma Hermosa fabric.

Bespoke home office furniture

A recently completed bespoke home office from our bespoke furniture design and build workshop. white lacquer storage units with a combination of doors and open shelving, lino writing surface on a window spanning desk with aluminium lipping.

Bespoke bedside cabinets

A pair of ebony macassar ‘C’ shaped bedside cabinets with single brushed stainless steel leg support.

More bespoke furniture…..

Here’s a lovely custom built AV sideboard we made in shiny blue acrylic with very wide media drawers. The polished exterior is solid acrylic with a black lacquer interior, all perfectly cable managed and vented.

Oak AV sideboard and matching display cabinet

Here’s some pictures of more beautiful contemporary bespoke furniture from our design and build studio and workshop; a 2 part set in crown cut American oak. The sideboard contains all the AV kit including a side vented subwoofer. There’s an adjacent display cabinet with glass shelves and doors in the upper section, a drop down desk with door switched light and side storage compartments.

The following is extracted from a thank you email about the 2 oak pieces;

“Thank you very much for the wonderful bespoke cabinetry you created for us on behalf of our client’s Mr. and Mrs. McDonald.  We appreciate all of the design advice and assistance you gave to us to help to create the perfect pieces for this project.  Your cabinet makers and installers were tidy and professional and the pieces were completed on time and within the estimated budget. The client is thrilled with the end result and so are Noorani Designs.”

New dining table

The first shots of a bespoke dining table, zebrano veneers and acrylic and glass, aluminium skirting and shadow gap with a hidden 25mm stainless steel box section frame holding the whole thing together. 2.9m L x 1.7m W, big table.

More happy customers

The following is extracted from an email of thanks from a customer with a newly installed piece of bespoke furniture, this time a wall hung AV sideboard with drop flap doors;

And, a big thank you to everyone for making and installing my beautiful sideboard – I love it…..it has been a painless and pleasurable experience dealing with such a professional and inspired organisation. From the initial conversations, the design conceptions through to the final installation – it has been professional yet an extremely helpful and friendly experience. Keep up your great philosophy of delivering beautiful products with exceptional service.