Looking forward, 6 years in
Looking forward.
The North side of my first shop, 2019
I’ve paused building catalog pieces at the moment while I work on some custom jobs and other projects. The central focus of my work in Modern Ethic always has been a product focused venture, that is, my style of working has been to design all aspects of the product first, then offer it for purchase. This meant in order to launch a new nightstand or table I would:
Prototype the design’s look and feel.
calculate the finances and make sure it makes economic sense to offer it.
Source the material and prepurchase 10 units worth.
Design the packaging and prepurchase usually 20-30 units worth.
Build the first unit and work through the problems that arise in production
take photos of the piece and write up a product description.
make the first sale and review the actual shipping process and cost.
revise the sale price for future units if necessary
write standard work to remind me how to build the unit and which packaging worked best.
The first six chairs, packed and ready to go
This process was intended for product runs of 50 or more units. Perhaps you can see that it takes a lot of time at the front end, so I need multiple sales amortize all of that development cost.
Prototype Maple Cut Chair
Not all of the products I designed were popular and successful enough to make it to 50 units, some only went 20-30 units before I discontinued them. Because I am an artist who builds all of my pieces alone, I can only manage a certain number of different concurrent units before I begin to lose my ability to build them all perfectly.
I made my first sale in August of 2019. It was for a set of six dining chairs. I have run the studio for 6 years part time as I’ve also been caring for my young kids throughout. A few insights:
I enjoy the work! In particular the design and prototyping.
When I get into serial production of units, where I’m building over and over again the same design, I begin to tire of the similarity.
I am lonely working without others. I miss the collaboration that I experienced at other jobs I’ve held.
The market that I’m in, small furniture deliverable by standard ground shipping, is very competitive and overseas production of inexpensive hardwood pieces is pressuring pricing for any small domestic shop.
I spend too much of my time packaging and shipping products. The shipping process is so rough that a large amount of packaging must be planned in order to reduce and mostly eliminate broken and damaged pieces.
There’s a real joy in taking an idea from a sketch to a real physical product that’s ready to offer.
With these reflections I find myself mostly pausing my furniture work. I’ve recently done some local cabinetry jobs and other custom work and I’m enjoying the chance of pace. I’m considering changing the business to build a small design product in the future, that leverages the machinery that I have and doesn’t require the extensive shipping that my previous products have. I still hold a small amount of record crates and I’ll sell those inventory out until depleted.
As always, looking forward with interest and energy - Isaac
