Adapting standar furniture with tailor-made solutions

by Giulia | Mar 20, 2021 | IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN, KITCHEN, LIVING AREA, PRIVATE APARTMENT, SLEEPING AREA

Custom-made furniture and stardar products belong to two different worlds, bringing with them a large repertoire of solutions and projects. Each has great strengths and opportunities, but both also know their weaknesses. Sometimes it happens that these two worlds come into contact, helping and supporting each other. After all, it is well known: unity is strength!

A master bathroom with elegant series furniture.
On the side, made-to-measure valances hide the support rails of the curtains

Standard and customed furniture: eternal rivals? Not at all!

It is common belief that standard furniture and custom-made solutions are ruthless competitors. Nothing true!

In fact, these are different realities that provide valid project proposals to customers, offering them a market capable of satisfying every request. Tastes, needs and desires of customers often interface with intrinsic constraints.
These include: budget limits, production restrictions, delivery times, availability and variety of alternatives.
Within the world of furniture design and production there are in fact an infinite number of secondary aspects that define the strengths, but also the limits of each company.

We can imagine the world of furniture as a range of parameters, at the extremes of which lie the cardinal principles of the two worlds.
On the one hand, standard furniture at super cheap prices capable of destroying any competitive market.
Its philosophy is certainly linked to a democratization of design that exploits large industrial production to contain prices and make its products accessible to all.

At the opposite end, a niche market, linked to the concept of “exclusivity”, chosen for its impossibility of identical reproduction and the opportunity for customization.
The choice of this type of furniture is linked to a feeling of privilege in its availability.

Between these two opposites there are the infinite number of companies that experience design on a daily basis.
Embracing the entire range of the market in this sector would be impossible and counterproductive, leading to poor results both for the manufacturer and for the customer himself.

It necessarily follows a specialization in the type of products and an identification of the reference target.
Precisely for this reason, standard furniture and tailor-made solutions cannot be considered competitors because they embrace different philosophies, targets and production systems. Their relationship is instead collaborative and mutually supportive, making the most of the potential of each party.

Potential and constraints of standard products

One of the main advantages of series furniture is the vastness of the market to which they belong.
This makes it possible to satisfy the tastes of each customer, providing a wide choice of solutions and variants. To this is added an economic advantage deriving from the optimization of production.In fact, by exploiting the industrial production and the repetition of the pieces, it is possible to optimize the production phase in the best possible way, managing to contain costs. This also implies an ever more careful precision and improvement of the single elements.

On the other hand, this specific reproducibility limits the scope for intervention and customization. The world of mass-produced furniture works in reproducible and combinable “modules”.
Customization consists in knowing how to combine the individual elements and organize them in a different way, but it certainly does not allow for specific product customization as in custom-made furniture.

So here are island, peninsula or monobloc kitchens that take on different shapes depending on the environment in which they are inserted.
However, these find their first obstacles when there are architectural constraints or special requests from customers.
Customization does not cover all levels of furniture reading.

This is where bespoke design comes in, offering its attention to detail and custom design.

customed-mirror-spa-sink-standard-furniture

When standard and customed furniture meet each other: a full-height shaped mirror fits into a SPA context with scenographic furnishings from important manufacturers

Works of tailor-made workmanship: a contemporary style kitchen

Where the supply of standard furniture reaches its limit of customization, the flexibility and spirit of adaptation of bespoke furniture comes into play.

An excellent example of this, is this luxury-style house distributed over three levels.
The maintenance and collaboration with Modulor involved different rooms.

First of all, the kitchen, consisting of a wall equipped with full-height doors on the right side of the access and a central island with a design hood. Precisely in this last element, the volumetric composition of the furniture provides a large surface that can be used as a worktop, but it prevents its use of meals.
In fact, by equipping the worktop with doors and lower drawers, it could not be used as a support surface for quick meals, as it did not provide adequate space for the user’s seat.

Finding tailor-made solutions in this example meant creating a lateral niche in the volume of the island. In this way, even with a not very wide depth, it was possible for customers to find the right space to sit comfortably while keeping their legs perpendicular to the structure. A comfortable snack bar for 2/3 people that does not give up on a work surface and support surface.

An important island kitchen modified with tailor-made solutions: a niche has been created in the lower volume in order to use the worktop also as a support point for the consumption of quick meals

The sleeping area between secret passages and princess bedrooms

Even in the sleeping area, custom-made design has found ease to express its experience and personalization.

The classic-style bedroom is characterized by the presence of an important bed with drapery and padded headboard with a fairytale look. Taking advantage of a lateral architectural niche, a desk with wall unit and shaped shelves was inserted in order to make it an integral part of the spatial configuration.

The custom-made desk top is accompanied by a chest of drawers with bands that also acts as a load-bearing element.
This is accompanied by a wall unit with a molded door and shelves in matt white lacquered MDF that reflect the boiserie.

Even the bedside tables take up the style of the bedroom with handles in customed sheet metal in the shape of butterflies.
The side service bathroom illuminates the room with a glossy white tile wall cladding, crystal shower and pedestal sink with custom wall mirror.

classic-style-bedroom-princess-bed-standard-furniture

Every princess’s dream bedroom hosts an important bed with drapery and padded back

details-princess-bad-padded-back-drapery

Details of a small bedroom from large-scale distribution: upholstered draperies and backrests perfectly match bedside tables with shaped sheet metal handles

The desk in the niche takes up the classic style of the boiserie paneling through door moldings

Shelves and doors in white lacquered MDF in warm tones for this classic style desk

The made-to-measure mirror accompanies the classic style design pedestal washbasin

Always in the upper floor, takes place the walk-in closet, whose orange tones give a touch of character and freshness to the room while remaining elegant and impressive.

A retractable mechanism is hidden inside the side structure.
What apparently looks like a support bench hides a flap door with a system of internal channels that allow dirty clothes to be brought directly to the laundry area. This internal conduit channel is also intercepted at the level of the living area through the opening of a door on the external front of the kitchen. What apparently seems to be part of the molded boiserie is transformed into a storage point for the tea towels which, using the internal slope, are taken directly to the laundry.

standard-furniture-walk-in-closet-leather-finishes

Composition of a walk-in closet with elements in series: on the sides hangers and shelves covered in orange leather, in the center a chest of drawers in textured bilaminate

The side wall of the walk-in closet with shelves and hangers.
On the right, the small service bench hides the channel that leads to the laundry

Left: the folding door mechanism from which the conduit for soiled garments starts. Right: the door incorporated in the boiserie that intercepts the path for the kitchen products.

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Designing in details a customed wardrobe

by Giulia | Dec 22, 2020 | IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN, PRIVATE APARTMENT, SLEEPING AREA

From the needs of the customers and the type of clothing used, the project for a customed wardrobe is born, studied in its internal configuration in the smallest details. A careful choice of materials and finishes give importance and elegance to the project.

internal configuration wardrobe man shelves detail

Studying the internal configuration of a customed wardrobe

Studying the internal configuration of a wardrobe, it is essential, as a first step, to analyze the type of clothing owned. Tubular hangers and shelves for folded items are balanced to best meet the needs of customers, making the most of the space. In fact, shirts, jackets, trousers and dresses occupy different dimensions depending on how they are folded. For this reason, it would be counterproductive to design a “universal” wardrobe.
The first step in designing a made-to-measure wardrobe is therefore to study the customer: to know their habits, tastes and needs. In the case of this young couple, the six-door wardrobe has been divided equally into two compartments: the women’s section, in which the hanger certainly prevails, but in which there are also small shelves for folded items, and the men’s section balanced between folded and hung.

Each item has its own space

The next step in the design was to study different typological variants of the wardrobe product in order to maintain a uniform line of sight in both sectors, but at the same time find the optimal solution for the internal organization of the space.

The internal layout has been designed in such a way as to respect the two divisions and keep them mirroring each other. The pair of central doors was thus conceived with a symmetrical internal division reserved for folded items.

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe proposal 01

In the first solution, extractable glass shelves are designed for folded shirts and t-shirts in order to store them in a more orderly and elegant way. In the women’s department, the hanging division allows the set of long dresses on the left side, and short dresses with folded trousers on the right side. The women’s department is completed by a chest of drawers for bags and accessories and upper shelves. The conformation of the men’s department is instead characterized by fixed tubulars for trousers folded in the lower part, shirts and jackets in the upper part.

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe proposal 02

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe proposal 03

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe proposal 04

The second solution proposed sees both components configured in the same way. The only difference is in the women’s part, where a side shelf is eliminated to accommodate long dresses. The third and fourth solutions also see the alternation of shelves and tubulars in order to ensure the double height of the hangers on one side, and a good number of drawers for underwear on the other.

internal configuration wardrobe front view woman part

The definitive conformation.

Among the various solutions proposed, after a comparison and mutual relationship with customers, the project proposal was born and then became reality. A configuration that respects the needs of each part, setting up a women’s department with hangers in the upper part that hosts dresses of different lengths. At the service of this, for greater practicality, a dark-toned side table with painted aluminum tubing that guarantees great resistance and capacity. In the lower part, a fixed tubular for skirts, blouses and shelves for sweaters and bulky items.

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe woman

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe drawers

Modulor internal configuration wardrobe man

The pair of central doors, mirrored on both sides, has a fixed hanger for folded trousers in the upper part and linen drawers in the lower part. The first of these is characterized by the presence of internal dividers and velvet bottom to keep the belts in order. In the masculine part, the upper part with servetto is dedicated to jackets and shirts, while the lower part houses fixed shelves for folded items and a large drawer on the bottom for bulky. To accompany the whole, a chest of drawers with central compartment for accessories and upper service shelf.

internal configuration wardrobe drawers with brass handles

open drawers detail internal configuration wardrobe man

internal configuration wardrobe woman hanger

Materials and finishes

Even the choice of materials and finishes reflects a particular attention to detail and a refined taste. The doors in white-stained ash are combined with handles in satin brass sheet with joint and fold system that makes them elegant and refined. The same type of handles, with sheet metal coplanar with the wooden structure, is used in the external chest of drawers, whose development follows a horizontal rather than a vertical trend. The interior of the wardrobe and the structure of the chest of drawers are in smoked oak, whose warm and soft shades perfectly match the existing natural oak parquet. A reference to brass is also present in the internal drawers of the wardrobe, with very simple but elegant folded sheet metal handles that rest on the front of the drawers. Servetti with brown aluminum finish, fixed tubulars and hinges with black color finish complete the overall view with uniformity and elegance.

Designing a made-to-measure wardrobe means thinking about an internal conformation that best meets the needs and practicality of customers. Like an item of clothing, furniture must also perfectly fit the personality of the user.

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Reflections and opacity of an apartment in Milano

by Giulia | Dec 17, 2015 | KITCHEN, LIVING AREA, PRIVATE APARTMENT, SLEEPING AREA, STYLE TIPS

With a panoramic view of the Milan skyline, reflections and opacities takes place in the renovation project by the architects Pierluigi Fasoli giving life to a rigorous apartment. A house that prefers to hide rather than show. Large full-height wardrobes and doors with storage points that characterize both the living area with the contemporary kitchen and the hallways, and the bright and austere bedroom.

REFLECTIONS

A rigorousness however animated by the material choice to alternate glossy and opaque surfaces, in a play of reflections that characterizes all environments. Starting therefore from the kitchen, focused on the choice of glossy white lacquered MDF for wall units and full-height doors. In correspondence with the first horizontal band of wall units, the reflections are underlined using a bronzed mirror, also applied in the back surface. Contemporary appliances with metal surfaces also integrate in this context. These include the refrigerator and the recessed oven, the double sink with a contemporary large tap and the hob with gas ovens. The design line of the kitchen follows a setting that prefers horizontality with recessed handle and upper vasistas-opening wall units. The play of reflections also involves all the doors of the apartment, the glossy lacobel of a white colour tending to light gray. The bedroom also responds to a material choice aimed at lucidity, with large full-height wardrobes and a vertical division of the doors. These elegantly harmonize with the dove-gray colour painting, a rigorous chromatic combination used in contemporary years. Verticality also taken up in the division of the window from which you can enjoy a panoramic view of Milan.

OPACITY

The hallway with service wardrobe and the entrance area with storage doors mostly represent the opaque component of this alternation. The first, alternates the glossy surfaces of the lacobel doors with the service cabinet in matt lacquered MDF of the same colour, detaching itself from the turtle dove-gray of the background paint. A vertical division underlined both by the dividing elements of the doors placed at regular intervals each other facing the back surface, and in the rhythmicity of the cabinet’s doors. The entrance area is also characterized by the same choice of alternation and chromatic contrast, with a recessed storage element that emerges from the drove-gray background with opaque white doors. The result is a formal and stylistic balance, underlined both by the chromatic contrast and by the geometric rigor of the forms.