Embarking on the journey to create bespoke furniture is not only a substantial financial investment, often spanning tens of thousands of pounds, but it is also a decision that will indelibly define the ambiance of your home for decades. We’ve curated a top 5 list of bespoke joineries in London whose names, in our experience, frequently surface during considerations, highlighting each company’s strengths to assist you in making an informed choice.
How Unique is Your ‘Unique’ Furniture?
Bespoke Furniture, like clothing, can be broadly categorized into three groups:
Mass-produced (IKEA, Argos, Wayfair, John Lewis, etc.)
These pieces are akin to Crocs sandals: produced in colossal quantities and a few variants, devoid of personalization, and utterly non-unique. Such pieces merely somewhat blend into your home’s aesthetic, often demanding that you adjust to them, and because they don’t conform to your room’s features, they may squander valuable space.
Price: Affordable, and easily replaceable if damaged.
Fitted to your size – but not completely bespoke
Anything “bespoke” that you can order from a catalogue resembles ready-to-wear dresses in shops: more diverse than mass-produced items, with broader colour, material, and size choices. They serve most people sufficiently and represent a significant quality leap from mass-produced furniture. But make no mistake: although many providers offer ‘tailoring’ services to customize this prefabricated furniture, such pieces are still not truly bespoke. They are merely mass-produced items, only adjusted to your size.
Price: Depending on the level of customisation, these can be particularly pricey, even with eye-watering discounts offered by many large companies.
Genuinely Bespoke Furniture
These are personally and specially crafted for your home following a specialist’s visit, with precision down to the millimeter, utilizing the exact tint of color and the finest, most noble materials available. Only those who have purchased a custom-made, perfectly fitting shoe know the true essence of genuine bespoke. Truly bespoke furniture nudges the boundaries of artisanship, often transcending them. Beauty and functionality entwine, making not only the product but also the creative journey an experience. The resultant furniture becomes a distinctive centrepiece of the home, an expressive piece unavailable elsewhere and universally admired.
At Befilo, we manufacture such furniture.
Bespoke Joineries to consider
1. Sharps
Perhaps the most recognizable company advertising itself as a bespoke joinery is Sharps. As a colossal corporation with over 77 centres and more than 600 employees, they offer customised and bespoke furniture throughout London and the entire UK. Characteristically, Sharps frequently offers substantial discounts, often up to 40-50%, typically within a limited timeframe, leaving the customer with limited scope for consideration or obtaining alternative quotes.
While Sharps is undoubtedly an excellent company with vast experience and a wide product range, it is essential to note that their solutions may not always be unique and tailored to your home’s specific spaces, often stemming from their existing template sizes. If you desire genuinely unique furniture, crafted with high-quality fixtures and bespoke colours, Sharps can provide this, as well, but this could also cost you losing the price advantage.
Buyer’s Tip: Detail your requirements minutely with the salesperson to ensure you receive the quality and design you desire. Even though Sharps is an exceptional company, always seek quotes from other companies before making a final decision, as the price advantage can dissipate after special, unique wishes are factored in.
2. Hammonds
Another formidable company, a true heavyweight since its inception in 1926, has grown into a giant with 89 showrooms and over 800 employees throughout the UK, including London. Like Sharps, Hammonds often advertises massive sales, which can initially appear incredibly tempting to the buyer seeking bespoke furniture and fit-outs.
Their industrial size could potentially be both a boon and a bane: while they have the capacity to handle numerous projects, the personal attention to each client may not parallel that provided by a smaller, artisanal bespoke joinery.
Buyer’s Tip: They boast a magnificent catalogue, but you must determine whether a piece, already designed and crafted for numerous settings, suffices, or if you seek a truly bespoke solution. And, once again, the same advice: don’t forget to obtain quotes from other companies too!
3. Neville Johnson
Neville Johnson is a manufacturing giant with 35 years of expertise, specialized in staircase renovations, and has established its reputation through high-standard, entirely bespoke joinery. While potentially too costly for some (they even provide a dedicated financing options menu), they craft undoubtedly genuine bespoke furniture in London and throughout the United Kingdom.
A potential drawback is their offering of only 70 colors and 25 finishes, whereas smaller bespoke joiners can match the exact color of your room, providing any tint or finish your home design requires.
Buyer’s Tip: Although they are a commendable choice, evaluate whether you can afford the premium brand’s extra cost. You may consider exploring smaller, less-known, yet still premium bespoke joineries in and around London.
4. Spaceslide
Boasting over 40 years of history and a distinctive online presence, Spaceslide stands out as a splendid company — but also exemplifies non-entirely bespoke entities. They present an impressive product range in their catalog. However, as previously stated, any fit-out ordered from a catalog cannot truly be bespoke by definition.
Their website features a super exciting wardrobe designing application where you can start to create your own design after measuring and calculating your space yourself. Surely they can also do it for you and they are able to provide you with a fully bespoke design – but for a different price tag.
Buyer’s Tip: Take advantage of the free design visits offered by many providers. Someone who has designed dozens, if not hundreds, of fit-outs will be able to refine your initial ideas into a more beautiful and space-effective result.
5. Small “Artisan” Bespoke Joineries in and Around London
Opting for a smaller bespoke joinery offers unique benefits. You become not just a customer but almost a member of an exclusive club, akin to owners of specific painters’ artworks, showcasing true craftsmanship in their homes.
While it is always satisfying to purchase well-known brands, commissioning a real haute couture designer allows you to be unique and become part of their excellence. A true bespoke joinery will offer infinite choices and won’t limit you in anything. They will provide you a furniture or fit-out that is designed only for you, that reflects your unique personality, and of which you can be proud for years to come.
You can find such joineries at these links:
Shape London | Bespoke Joinery London | Grove Wood Joinery
But if you found this article useful, why not consider requesting a callback from us? At Befilo, we offer exactly this: infinite choices, precision down to the millimeter, advanced 3D computer modeling, and free expert advice during our complimentary design visit. Fill out the booking form right now!
