There are practical reasons why you may want to consider commissioning a piece of furniture. It may not be possible, for example, to purchase from a retailer something of the correct size or of a design to suit your taste. There is however another very rewarding aspect to commissioning something unique, and that is, as a client you may enjoy the creative element of your design input. It is important to stress there are no rules about this, as professionals we have worked from very precise scale working drawings produced by the client, to on the other hand producing unique pieces of furniture designed entirely by us with no creative input at all from the client, but we know each way of working has culminated in pieces of furniture that give either type of clients a great deal of pleasure. It is also important to remember that this creative project will be around for many years, because, anything recognizably well designed and well made tends to be treated with due care and respect by whoever becomes its custodian.

Although we are very accommodating to the way in which a client would like to work (on occasion we have conducted the entire process by email), we have established by experience a structured sequence of events which we find works well.

Initial contact

During this first contact we need to establish how much a piece of our furniture is likely to cost. Clearly this is difficult to establish at this stage because we never make the same thing twice, however we can discretely indicate the likely cost of a piece of furniture shown on this web site,which can serve to illustrate the variation of cost depending upon the details. If you wish to proceed further with your inquiry we now need to arrange a mutually convenient time to either meet in the workshop or preferably at the client's home.
 

There is no charge for this initial meeting unless we are going to incur significant traveling expenses in which case we agree a fee to cover this prior to the meeting. Virtually all our enquiries come from recommendations by previous clients; in fact we have a few treasured clients who commission something from us every year, so thankfully we never feel that we are in your home to sell ourselves. 

First meeting

For this meeting we bring photographs of everything we have ever made, timber samples and a great deal of good will. Quite a lot has to be established at this first meeting including design parameters materials and realistic expectations of how much the proposed piece of furniture will cost. Clearly it is quite difficult to establish the exact cost of the project if the design has not been finalized, but we have found we can provide realistic guides based on photographs of previous work. In order for us to proceed to the next stage we have to establish a design fee for new clients, there is no design fee for previous clients. This fee is normally assimilated into the final exact quotation, however in the unlikely event that the design does not result in a completed commission, we respectfully request this agreed payment to compensate for time spent on design.

The design process

It is essential to have established cost parameters and budget before embarking upon this creative stage as we find otherwise the scope of choice can lead to an excessive amount of design time and a lack of decision making. There are no rules as to how many sketches need to be produced or how long this process should take (it is quite difficult to design on demand) however, as soon as possible and either with or without further consultation, some drawings will be produced with an exact quotation and a precise delivery date all of this is then presented to the client. Having established this very comprehensive specification of all aspects of the commission we ask for written confirmation of the order in writing.

Reserving a space into our workshop schedule

Having received written confirmation of an order we book a specific amount of time in our workshop schedule, we are very strict about keeping to our allotted projects and do not "squeeze in" other "could you just projects". It generally takes twelve months from initial enquiry, to completion of  a commission, and we have found our clients are prepared to wait that long provided we complete the project when we say we are going to.

Delivery

We prefer to deliver the completed project ourselves so we can see it in the surroundings it was designed for and also to satisfy ourselves that the client is pleased with what we have all created. The charge for delivery is included in the quotation.

Payment

We usually request a deposit of one third of the total cost approximately one  month before starting the project. We then request an interim payment of another third usually halfway through the construction and it is a good idea to combine this interim payment with a workshop visit as sometimes the different forms of construction techniques can be interesting to see and touch. The final payment is due on delivery.

At the time of writing Adamson and Low have completed a total of 214 commissions. Each unique project has a documented project number and most have a solid silver identification plate. This plate is engraved by hand with our name, project number,and the year it was completed. It is then hallmarked and discretely inlaid into the piece of furniture.