Buying a desk? Why you should buy bespoke

When it comes to making a house a home, few things are as rewarding as commissioning a piece of bespoke furniture. It goes beyond simply filling a space - it creates a lasting connection between you, the maker, and the finished object. Every piece I design is made with purpose, built to fit your life, your home, and your way of working or living.

Below I’ll share some of the key reasons to choose bespoke, with examples from past projects.

1. Furniture Designed to Fit Your Space

Sometimes you need something that simply doesn’t exist “off the shelf.” Standard dimensions often don’t work for real homes, and that’s where bespoke shines.

Take, for example, a HiFi cabinet I designed for a client who wanted to combine vinyl record storage with a dedicated place for their turntable. The brief was to make the largest possible cabinet to fill a wall — 1920mm long and 420mm deep — so that the turntable lid could lift freely, with shelves sized precisely to store 12” vinyl. The result was a piece that maximised storage and became a striking focal point for the room.

The same applies to bespoke office desks. If you’re taller or shorter than average, or if you have specific ergonomic needs, standard home office furniture just won’t serve you well. I discuss this in another blog post about the design considerations for a bespoke home office desk. One client needed to work with multiple monitors and wanted maximum surface area. We designed a custom circular office desk that he could sit in the centre of, giving him seamless access to his entire workspace with just a swivel of his chair.

This is the beauty of bespoke: the piece is made for you, not the other way around.

2. Bringing Your Vision to Life

Sometimes, it’s not about space at all, it’s about finding something that reflects your own vision. You may already have a piece you love and want new furniture to match it.

Colour matching can be a subtle but important part of the process. I often start by identifying the original timber species, then create test finishes by mixing oil pigments into varnish or oil. I’ll prepare a range of samples and send them to the client for approval, so the final shade is exactly right.

One project involved a bespoke record player stand with vinyl storage. The client wanted the finish to perfectly match their pair of high-end Tannoy speakers. By carefully colour-matching the walnut, I created a wooden desk-style cabinet that tied the whole space together, proving that bespoke furniture doesn’t just fill a need - it completes a vision.

3. Higher Quality, a Bespoke Office Desk Built to Last

A key reason people choose bespoke is quality. Unlike mass-produced items, which are often built to a price point, bespoke wood furniture is made to endure. Using solid timber and time-honoured joinery means each piece is designed not just for the present, but to last for decades. I seek to create what will become the heirlooms of the future. I will not built that which will be found in a skip in 10 years time.

A walnut desk I built recently illustrates this well. Made from a single slab of English walnut with a cabinet of smooth-running drawers, it balances organic form with fine joinery. Reinforcing bearers and dovetail joints keep the slab stable over time. The end result? A solid walnut furniture piece that will remain functional and beautiful for generations.

4. A Collaborative Process

When you commission bespoke, you’re not just buying furniture - you’re part of the design journey. We’ll talk through your needs, your space, and your preferences for wood, style, and finish. I’ll create sketches, samples, and prototypes where needed. It’s a genuine collaboration.

This means the finished piece carries more emotional weight. You’ve had a hand in shaping it, and it reflects your personality as much as mine as the maker.

5. A Connection to Materials

Sometimes the emotional attachment comes not from the design process but from the materials themselves. Alongside designing and making furniture, I also offer a chainsaw milling service. I mill client’s own trees into, often ones they have known for a lifetime. Over the year or two it takes to season the wood, we then work together to design a piece that carries the story of that tree into a new form.

Imagine sitting at a wooden home office desk made from timber you once saw outside your window as a child. That kind of connection simply can’t be bought from a showroom.

6. Bespoke Furniture as Functional Art

Bespoke furniture is often more than just practical. A bespoke office desk with drawers, a record storage cabinet, or a custom walnut table top can be both useful and sculptural. Each piece I make is functional, yes -  but it is also intended as an artwork that enhances daily life, reflecting individuality and craftsmanship.

7. Statement Storage and Drinks Cabinets

Bespoke isn’t limited to desks or workspaces - it can bring character and individuality to living spaces as well. A drinks cabinet can be a perfect example.

I designed a wall-mounted drinks cabinet that is as much a sculptural object as a piece of home furniture. Built from black-stained oak with a carved Jesmonite front inspired by time spent diving amongst kelp forests, it balances functionality with artistry. It reads as a piece of wall art but magically transforms into a modern drinks cabinet when the doors are slid open. Inside, pale sycamore shelving provides a beautifully tactile interior for storing a select collection of bottles and glasses.

The cabinet opens with precision-engineered synchronous runners, meaning both doors glide open together – an important detail that greatly increases the complexity of assembly but hugely enhances the experience of use. For me, this is the essence of bespoke furniture: something functional, but with the presence of art. Whether you need a small drinks cabinet for a city apartment, a whiskey cabinet with tailored storage, or a striking living room drinks cabinet, the bespoke approach allows you to create something that reflects your lifestyle and your space.

8. Vinyl Storage and Record Player Cabinets

Another area where bespoke design excels is audio furniture. Music lovers often find that standard storage just isn’t enough - collections are too large, or equipment too specialised. That’s where vinyl record storage, record player cabinets, and turntable stands come in.

For a recent project, a client wanted a record player stand that would not only fit their turntables with millimetre precision, but also match a pair of vintage walnut Tannoy speakers from the 1970s. I crafted a record player cabinet from solid walnut, using sliding dovetails to ensure strength while allowing the timber to move naturally with heat and humidity. The finish, a wax blend from Tannoy themselves, created a subtle but meaningful connection between the old and new.

Another project, the Resonance Cabinet, was designed with acoustics in mind. Built from dense utile hardwood, with continuous grain flowing over the top and sides, it reduces resonance and vibration - essential for preserving analogue sound quality. Mitred dovetails at the corners and sliding dovetails in the frame give the cabinet structural stability, while contrasting legs were made from the client’s own wind-felled ash. The result is a custom made furniture piece that supports heavy HiFi equipment, provides long-term vinyl storage, and carries a deeply personal connection to the client’s own materials.

From a DJ booth built for performance to a vinyl storage cabinet designed to anchor a living room, bespoke audio furniture allows you to bring together equipment, records, and design into a seamless whole.

9. Functional Objects as Art

Projects like the Jesmonite-fronted black drinks cabinet or a sculptural walnut desk show that bespoke furniture doesn’t just solve practical needs - can also act as art. Whether it’s a wooden home office desk, a living room drinks cabinet, or wooden wall art, bespoke furniture can blur the line between function and sculpture.

This is where working with a bespoke furniture maker can be most rewarding: the freedom to create something not available in a showroom, something that truly reflects individuality, materiality, and story.

 

Final Thoughts

Whether it’s a bespoke desk that transforms your home office or a custom wood furniture piece made to fit a tricky space, bespoke furniture carries a value that mass-produced items can’t match. It’s tailored, enduring, and deeply personal.

If you’d like to explore commissioning something unique, I’d be delighted to chat through ideas.