Designing Furniture

Crafting Furniture

Restorations

We Purchase Furniture

“There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.”.

― Milton Glaser ―

 

I really love that Quotation from Milton Glaser.  It really makes me strive to achieve the WOW!

 

We also strive to give our Clients something that no one else can provide them.  We incorporate their ideas and our ideas to achieve this goal. They will then be proud to say "I had this designed and commissioned by George Coles of Jarrah Works Fine Furniture, based on MY idea.

 

OUR GOAL IS TO CREATE A PIECE THAT WILL PROVIDE BOTH PLEASURE & PRIDE FOR THE OWNER

 

To achieve that we have adopted a different approach to design to most other furniture makers.

 

First, we are often willing to take on those odd, unique and different pieces that others will not.  See our Miscellaneous Gallery for some examples of this.

 

Secondly, we call our design process, a "Flowing Design Process". It works a bit like this:

 

We like to meet up with the person or persons who the piece is for.  At this meeting, George Coles takes notes all the relevant information about the purpose, size, woods preferred etc. from the client.  George will then have an in depth discussion with the clients about what their vision of the piece is.  This also allows George to get a feel for the clients and their personalities so hopefully, the clients themselves can be reflected in the final design.  George will then go back to his workshop and let the ideas come to him about what he envisions the finished piece will look like.  This can sometimes take a week or two.  Sometimes he will even prototype a piece if it has strength and structural requirements.  Once he has this vision of the finished piece he is happy with, he will communicate his ideas to the client who then gives the go ahead for the project.

 

However this is only the start of the process.

 

When the project starts, George personally selects the recycled timber to be used in the piece.  Once the timber is machined, he color matches the boards to give the best feature to the important surfaces of the piece.  This is critical as the wrong timber or colors, can substantially  detract from the finished article.

 

George is fully involved in the build and all facets of the project.  So much so that often during the build, he makes changes to the proportions, visual looks or the structural integrity of the piece.  These changes to the piece, can make a marked difference to the final result. This is why we call it Flowing Design.

 

These changes are mostly done without consulting the client as they do not affect the size or functionality of the piece.

 

George Coles has been called a unique designer in that 95% of the design is in his head and never committed to paper.  He can visualize complex pieces and build them without the use of any drawings or notes.  He has been heard to sometimes say when beginning a new piece "That idea has been rattling around in my head for a few years now it is out.

 

George also wants to see evidence of hand crafting in all his pieces, this is a feature that speaks to the structure and making of the piece. That, combined with a  distinctive style, give the piece an individual identity and keep it from appearing  sterile or impersonal like most modern, particularly machine made furniture can.

 

Imagining the personality of each piece and picturing it in the context of a living space helps him to refine the details included in his designs. As he says, "Each piece should be a work of art, but should also have functionality".  This gives a piece viability, value as well as beauty.

 

As we are a teaching workshop and not a commercial workshop, unfortunately, we are not able to provide clients with detailed CAD type drawings of their pieces at this time.  Maybe one day we will start a CAD workshop as well if there is anyone interested.