£4500

[devonwoody]

I was in the doctors surgery this week and picked up a magazine and there was an article on a Devon furniture manufacture.

The item displayed below was made from bog oak (found in Norfolk) and the cost described hand made for that piece of furniture was £4500. I believe the article stated it took 14 days to make. (the timber cost a lot as well, enough for around 10 desks)

http://youngandnorgate.com/collection/a ... sk-bog-oak

So go and do some digging in your garden, you might strike lucky.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

:shock: It's only a metre wide! First glance it looked twice that.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Maybe the photo doesn't do it justice but to me it looks like something out of MFI - Hate the design, I wouldn't give it house room at any price.

Regards Mick

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Bog off springs to mind!

Modernist rubbish. I thought formica had been consigned to the 70's!!

 

[John15]

Maybe I'm missing something but to me the design is shocking, and the price is even more shocking.

John

 

[Woodcrafts]

Whether or not you like the design, I don't think that the price is that unreasonable. 14 days to make @ say £250.00 per day (to include workshop overheads etc.), materials @ ca. £500 and a modest profit (after all it is a business) of 8%. But whether I would pay that for this particular desk is another matter.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Would it really take 14 days to make that?

Regards Mick

 

[MIGNAL]

Might do if you were doing everything with hand tools and/or it truly was a one off i.e. from starting the design to finished article.
With Bog Oak there might be quite a lot of waste, perhaps higher than is usual.
I don't mind modern minimalist designs but that particular one does nothing for me.

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

To everyone annoyed by the price of this piece.
You can say this is more than you can afford to pay for such a piece of furniture.
However if you are not actually in the market for such a piece why complain about the price?
As Woodcrafts has been kind enough to calculate for us this is not actually the kings ransom. But no one has mentioned the VAT component of the price. We have become so addicted to mass manufactured goods that it is easy to consider an individually made piece expensive. Don't misunderstand me it is a lot of money, but it is also unique. Compare this to other individually crafted items that you may have purchased in the past and it is not that shocking. A good example is a dental crown or bridge or implant or further down that road false teeth. Items made for you, to order and to make your life more enjoyable. Just like this desk.
If you can do this better (make your original designs) and make them for less and still feed your family, with cabinet making as your sole source of income, there is nothing to stop you proving me wrong.
Why don't we support the people making beautiful furniture from wood for a living instead of suggesting that they are over charging?

 

[RogerS]

To everyone annoyed by the price of this piece.
You can say this is more than you can afford to pay for such a piece of furniture.
However if you are not actually in the market for such a piece why complain about the price?
As Woodcrafts has been kind enough to calculate for us this is not actually the kings ransom. But no one has mentioned the VAT component of the price. We have become so addicted to mass manufactured goods that it is easy to consider an individually made piece expensive. Don't misunderstand me it is a lot of money, but it is also unique. Compare this to other individually crafted items that you may have purchased in the past and it is not that shocking. A good example is a dental crown or bridge or implant or further down that road false teeth. Items made for you, to order and to make your life more enjoyable. Just like this desk.
If you can do this better (make your original designs) and make them for less and still feed your family, with cabinet making as your sole source of income, there is nothing to stop you proving me wrong.
Why don't we support the people making beautiful furniture from wood for a living instead of suggesting that they are over charging?

Well said, Gerard..... you took the very words right out of my mouth. We should be celebrating the work - even though we might not like it - rather than take a cheap dig at it.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Must be something wrong with my computer! I see several posts critisising the design and only one mentioning price.

I'm a great advocate of quality craftsmanship and design and am more than happy to pay for it but in my opinion the object in question does not exhibit these attributes and hence I see no point in 'celebrating' it - no cheap dig just how I see it.

Regards Mick

 

[custard]

It's beautiful, really really beautiful. Takes my breath away it's so elegant and attenuated, plus have you noticed the grain direction? They've torn up the rule book to flow the grain around in that direction,

Plus it's a guild mark piece, so at £4500 it's just a rock solid investment.

£4500 for 112 hours of work, that's just over £40 an hour, so about half what a main dealer car garage charges in labour.

It illustrates just how incredibly hard it is to earn a living as a designer/maker, at £40 an hour they're just about scraping by. They're producing stunningly beautiful, award winning, original pieces. And the general reaction on a forum (that should be their greatest cheerleaders) is non too enthusiastic.

Ho hum.

 

[custard]

Actually, the more I look at it I'm sceptical that it only takes 112 hours. Look at that detailing!

http://youngandnorgate.com/collection/a ... iting-desk

It makes me even more worried about the makers. I've seen this before, designer/makers being way too optimistic about the build times, ignoring the design time and jig making time, and kidding themselves about their overhead costs (it's pretty difficult to run a workshop on £40 an hour, it can be done but you're a lot safer assuming £50, and £60 is what you need to see your skills properly rewarded). I'd suspect that's actually a 200 hour piece, in which case they're really getting £22.50 an hour. Take out the workshop overhead and they're on minimum wage.

Breaks your heart.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They probably made the ten at the same time - assuming they think they're going to sell them.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If it were £450 it would still be incredibly ugly.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Looks pretty ugly to me regardless of the price.

 

[whiskywill]

Whether or not you like the design, I don't think that the price is that unreasonable. 14 days to make @ say £250.00 per day (to include workshop overheads etc.), materials @ ca. £500 and a modest profit (after all it is a business) of 8%. But whether I would pay that for this particular desk is another matter.

These figures don't quite work for me. They also make this desk in American Black Walnut in a "limited" edition of 100 pieces. If he/they work 5 days a week for 48 weeks a year it would take 6.4 years just to make the desks and nothing else. My guess is that they are set up to produce them, at least, in batches.

 

[Owl]

If it were £450 it would still be incredibly ugly.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

Fortunately we all have different tastes. So not everyone is going to like these designs. These designers are very avant garde and this is a great thing for the UK. Why even contest the hours required to make these pieces when you stop and think about this is perhaps an irrelevant discussion. Mass produced designer goods are sold at a price that positons them in the market. At a price that has nothng to do with the work involved and more about the wallets of the people buying them. People who spend 4500 on a desk don't save up for years to buy one. They buy it in the way most people pay for groceries. High end cabinet makers work for the wealthy not for other cabinet makers. Chipendale worked for wealthy scondrels who often tried either not to pay or delayed payment for years. Artisans skills have always been valued by the wealthy because the rest of us could not afford to have everything tailormade. Even if these pieces are not to your taste you can appreciate how magnificently they have been made. Champion and encourage these designer/makers. If you have criticisms let them be constructive.

 

[Mike.R]

I think it's rather beautiful in a quiet sort of way. The runner detail and chamfered housing of the drawer fronts are nicely considered and the designer has allowed the timber to speak for itself.

As has been said I too am a bit surprised by the damning comments, especially considering that on screen photos hardly ever do this sort of subject justice.

The price ? A one off, handmade writing desk in a rare and desirable timber... seems about right to me.