Why choose bespoke?
It is a little like the choice between buying a suit on the high street or having one tailormade on Savile Row, in your choice of material and design, so that it fits you perfectly and can be adjusted in the future.
We start our bespoke joinery projects with a blank piece of paper, so we design something especially for your house, from scratch. In this way, we can create fitted furniture that’s sympathetic to the architecture, to the right scale and in the right materials, so that it enhances your home.
Who does what?
Traditionally, a carpenter is responsible for the structural elements of a building. A joiner makes and fits architectural detailing, staircases, doors, windows, fitted cupboards and so on and a cabinetmaker produces freestanding furniture, such as tables and bureaus. Today, there’s often crossover, because cabinetmaking skills are required to produce the more decorative elements of joinery. At Artichoke, we design and make fine architectural joinery and fitted furniture, which is why we call ourselves cabinetmakers and joiners.
How do I commission bespoke joinery?
It’s worth taking the time to find a joinery company that not only makes goodquality furniture, but also really understands joinery detailing and has a proven back catalogue of excellent design work. There is a Classical order in a lot of period architecture and an experienced joiner will be able to use that order in a way that’s appropriate to your room.
If you like the company’s style and think it has the capability to add value to the architecture of your house, then you need to think about how to brief its team. Think carefully about how you live in your house and how you use each room, the purpose of the furniture you want and how much storage you need.
This applies whether you want fitted furniture for a kitchen, pantry, boot room, study, library, bedroom, dressing area or any other room in the house. Be open with your designers and give them enough time and creative freedom to do what they’re good at.
How do I decide on the style?
It isn’t necessary to create a design that’s slavishly representative of the age of the building because, usually, the older the house, the more it will have been adjusted by owners through the years.
I like to create a story, as a way of helping navigate through the design process. For example, I’m currently working on a Jacobean house that was heavily refurbished in the Edwardian period, when electricity was first used in a domestic setting, so we’re basing the kitchen on the sort of elements that you would have found in an interior of that time.
It’s fine to bring new detailing to a room, because everything moves on. The choice between the delicacy of a Regency moulding in a Regency building or creating a more contemporary feel with less detail is matter of personal taste. What is important is that you should enhance a house, whatever its age, and not damage it in any way, and that you use suitable materials.
Which timbers do you prefer?
We try to use materials that are appropriate to listed buildings. Typically, those are oak, chestnut, European walnut, sycamore and beech, all obtained from Forest Stewardship Council or other sustainable sources.
We also use Scandinavian redwood in projects when Historic England requires it, as it’s the closest available imitation of deal, originally used in Georgian joinery, or if we feel it will benefit the feel of the final room, because the grain certainly looks good when it’s over-painted.
The timbers we use, especially oak, are ones that have been used in English houses for centuries and have become part of our subconscious, which is why they always feel right when they’re seen in a period building.