One tree furniture

Design Process

Where to start?

Come to us with an idea, a sketch or a picture of a similar piece of furniture and we will establish with you a clear design brief for your furniture. This will include the following considerations and criteria:

Type and use

• to match or compliment existing furniture or stand alone
• design style
• size
• wood and other materials to be used (this may combine several different materials)
• finish and durability
• budget (or fixed price)
• date required

What happens next?

Once the design brief has been established, we will work on the design drawings which may include; sketches, diagrams and computer generated 3D drawings (or models) and these will then be reviewed, refined, agreed and approved before the furniture goes into production.

A deposit of 20% of the estimated or agreed fixed price for the furniture will be required to be paid prior to start of manufacture, with the balance due upon final inspection of the finished piece, prior to delivery.

Which Wood?

The majority of furniture commissioned by our customers is made from hardwood and the range of commercially available hardwoods runs to several hundred, however not all hardwoods are suitable for use in furniture.

In choosing the right hardwood or combination of complementary hardwoods for a piece of furniture the following properties need to be considered:

• Mechanical properties: can it be bent? Is it strong and stiff? Is it resistant to knocks?
• Seasoning: how does it dry and what movement will there be in service?
• Working properties: can it be worked, nailed, screwed and glued easily?
• Finishing properties: can it be stained or coloured and what finishes can be applied?
• Durability: will it be liable to attack and can it be treated?

After some careful consideration of the above the choice of wood usually comes down to the look and feel of the wood and the following will impact on the aesthetic properties of the material:

• The colour of the timber is often the primary reason for choosing a particular species, however this may vary dramatically and many timbers fade or darken on exposure to light and most will darken after the application of a finish.
• The surface pattern on a piece of timber or "the figure" results from several natural features and these combined with a variety of "grain" types and the method of cutting the timber, produce the distinctive "figure".
• The "grain" is the natural formation of the wood fibres relative to the main axis of the tree and there are eight types: straight, cross, interlocked, spiral, wavy, curly, irregular and diagonal grain.
• The method of cutting the log typically includes "flat sawn" and "quarter or rift sawn" and these methods will produce a variety of different and striking figure in certain timbers such as Walnut, Rosewood and Oak.
• The texture or feel of the wood surface varies from fine to coarse and certain timbers can have uneven texture
• The surface lustre of the wood will vary depending on the texture and the method of cut used to convert the log. Quarter sawn timbers are usually more lustrous than flat sawn.

That may seem like a lot of information to consider but it usually doesn't take long to narrow it down to a very short list of suitable material or materials and thereafter it becomes a very personal choice.

At One Tree Furniture we will advise on the suitability of available hardwoods, given their known properties for a particular use and develop the design of your furniture to exploit the visual and structural qualities of this beautiful and unique material.

Manufacturing process

Before we start making your piece of bespoke furniture, we will make sure that we have a very clear idea of what you want and this will have been established during the previous stage as part of the design process.

We will make your furniture using only the wood and other materials previously selected, along with chosen ironmongery and fittings.

We will also ensure that the finish applied to your furniture matches exactly what was chosen during the design process to bring out the natural beauty of the wood and protect it for years to come. We pride ourselves on our attention to detail!

Once finished, you can be assured of delivery of your furniture on the delivery date agreed in a defect-free condition which we hope you will enjoy for years to come. However, should any defect arise after delivery we will be happy to rectify to your entire satisfaction.

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