Good design should be for everyone. Since Renaissance times, patrons have commissioned site-specific art, architecture and design to reflect their style and ambitions. Today's design-savvy customer is no different. And 'bespoke' is a buzz word these days...we all want to stand out from the crowd and show our personality through what we buy and do.
I started as an art studio in Geneva, designing and painting art for residential and hospitality interiors. In 2010, I opened Bespoke Art in Sydney and experimented with offering customers limited-edition printed fabrics, taken from the art they commissioned. It was a real winner and now I upholster chairs in my fabrics according to the customer's whim and want!
The obvious next step was to streamline this service and create a fun e-shopping experience. My Bespoke Chair is an on-line design studio where the customer is the designer. Choose a chair style, scroll through the fabrics choices, play around with different combinations and see it come to life in front of your eyes. All the fabrics are designed in-house and aren't sold anywhere else, which adds to the unique experience and product on offer.
You can even share your design with friends on facebook, twitter and pinterest - or save your design for later. I really think it's the new way to go shopping with the girls!
My Bespoke Chair is in the building stage, using a Sydney based web developers Hopping Mad. The back-end organisation to a site like this is huge and really takes us all down the tech and e-commerce path less trodden. We are aiming for an October 2012 launch - allowing for site testing, getting the on- and off- line marketing and PR set up, engaging a fabric printer, chair supplier, upholstery workshop and delivery partners. We're getting there - so far it's all going to plan.
Whilst setting up My Bespoke Chair, the parent business Bespoke Art, is going strong. I have new clients and projects coming in with enough regularity to help fund My Bespoke Chair. The site for Bespoke Art is being redesigned making it more stylish, informative and relevant. It's a contents only site, serving as a brochure and research tool for prospective clients.
I am keeping my little shop where customers can come in and browse or make an appointment. This mix of a shop plus e-commerce really embraces the way forward for retail; "Clicks and Mortar." I think that if a product or service can be sold through both channels, then the health of the retail sector is assured.
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