Furniture Supplier for Interior Designers

The Four Things Designers Ask That Nobody Else Does

Operators ask about durability. Retailers ask about margin. Designers ask about a different set of things entirely, and a supplier who has not thought about them will be slow and frustrating to work with.

What can I put in front of a client, and when?

A specification only becomes real when the client approves it, and a client approves objects rather than descriptions. That means physical samples — a finish chip, a weave section, a timber offcut — early enough to sit on a presentation board, and photography good enough to survive a scheme document. A supplier who can only send a catalogue image is asking you to sell on their behalf with nothing in your hand.

Whose order is this?

Designers work on both models. Some purchase as principal, buying at trade and invoicing the client at their own rate. Others specify and let the client contract directly, taking a fee for the work. The two have completely different implications for who is liable if the goods are late, who chases the shipment, and who is out of pocket if a client changes their mind. This should be settled explicitly at the first order, not assumed.

What happens when the client changes their mind?

They will. The useful answer is not "no changes after approval" but a clear map of which changes are still possible at which stage, and what each costs. A fabric swap the week before packing is trivial. A dimension change after timber is cut is not. Designers who know where those doors close can manage a client instead of relaying bad news.

Will I be able to specify this again?

A piece that works becomes part of a designer's vocabulary and gets specified across projects for years. That only holds if the supplier documents the model rather than remembering it. It is the least glamorous question on this list and the one that determines whether a supplier becomes a long-term part of how you work.

How pieces are physically made, if that is the question behind the specification, is set out under teak manufacturing and rattan manufacturing, and our note on how designers use Balinese furniture in luxury projects covers the application side.

Luxury Furniture

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Showroom, Platform, Dealer or Maker

Most designers use more than one, and the useful comparison is what each one costs you in time rather than in margin.

Local showrooms and dealers

You can touch the piece, take a client to see it, and get delivery in weeks. The trade discount is modest because a showroom carries real overhead, the range is whatever the showroom's brands make, and if a client wants it forty centimetres narrower the answer is no. Best for schemes that must complete quickly and for clients who need to sit in something before they will sign.

To-the-trade platforms and online trade portals

Wide range, quick account setup and everything in one order. What you give up is direct contact with anyone who made anything: queries route through a platform, lead times are quoted rather than owned, and two designers in the same city are specifying from the same catalogue. Efficient for filling gaps, weak for the pieces a scheme is built around.

Antique, vintage and one-off dealers

Genuine distinctiveness and no possibility of repetition, which is exactly why designers use them. Unrepeatable by definition, so unsuitable for anything requiring pairs, sets or a second project.

Direct from a manufacturer

Best pricing for a given construction, dimensions altered to your drawing, and a specification that can be reissued in three years because it is written down. In exchange you accept a lead time measured in production and shipping, you approve physical samples rather than pointing at a floor model, and you take on more coordination than a showroom would absorb for you.

Where we fit, honestly

We are the fourth. That makes us right for the pieces a scheme is built around and for clients who want something their neighbour cannot buy. It makes us the wrong choice for a designer who needs a sofa in three weeks, and we will tell you that at the enquiry rather than let you find out at week six.

Setting Up a Project So It Runs

These are the things worth settling before the first specification goes to a client.

Open the trade account before you specify, not after

Trade terms, payment stages and who is invoiced all affect what you quote a client. Establishing them while you are still drawing means your fee structure reflects real numbers instead of estimates.

Order samples for the scheme, not for the piece

Request finish and material samples in the tones you are considering across the whole scheme rather than one sample per item. A board that holds the timber, the weave and the textile together is what actually gets a client to approve, and it costs the same to send three chips as one.

Send drawings, not model names

Wall runs, ceiling heights, door swings and the position of anything fixed. Most of what makes a piece wrong in a finished room is dimensional, and dimensional changes to an existing model are usually far cheaper than designers expect because the design and jigs already exist.

Fix the approval chain in writing

Name who approves samples, who issues the purchase order and who signs off delivery. On a project with an engaged client this takes one email and prevents the most common dispute in designer-led work, which is a client who believes they approved something different.

Build the client's expectations about variation into the presentation

Natural timber and hand weaving vary. A client told in advance that grain and tone will differ piece to piece receives character; a client told afterwards receives a defect. Put it in the scheme document, and ask your supplier for the tolerance in writing so you are describing it accurately. Our comparison of handmade against mass-produced furniture is useful material to share with a client at that point.

Work the programme backwards from the install date

Sampling, approval, production, inspection, freight and delivery run in sequence. If the client's move-in date is fixed, that date sets everything else, and a supplier who will tell you plainly when it does not work is more useful than one who agrees and slips.

Ask where delivery actually stops

Port, warehouse, kerbside or room. Residential addresses rarely take a container, and who carries a dining table upstairs is a question best answered before the lorry arrives.

Pieces that recur in designer specifications include the Desmon Console, the Annaya Coffee Table and the Lanca Flower Mirror. Ranges sit in our luxury collection and handmade living room range.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do interior designers source furniture from?

Typically from a mix: local showrooms for speed and for pieces a client wants to sit in, trade platforms for filling gaps, dealers for one-off character pieces, and manufacturers direct for the pieces a scheme is built around. Most working designers use three of the four on a single project.

Do you offer trade pricing to designers?

Yes. Terms are set against project scale and depth per model rather than against a fixed percentage, and we will discuss them before you specify so your own quoting is based on real figures.

How does a designer trade programme work here?

There is no membership tier or application form. Trade terms are agreed directly against the scale of the work you expect to place, and they are set before you specify so that your own client quoting is based on real figures rather than an assumed discount. If you are comparing trade programmes across suppliers, the useful questions are whether pricing is fixed or scale-based, whether samples are chargeable, and whether the terms survive a quiet year.

Can I order on behalf of a client, or should they contract directly?

Both work and we are comfortable with either. What matters is that it is agreed in writing at the first order, because it determines who is invoiced, who is liable for delays and who carries the deposit.

Can you send samples for a client presentation?

Yes. Finish chips, weave sections and timber samples are available, and we would rather send several tones across a scheme than one sample per piece. Larger pieces can be sampled at cost, normally credited against the production order.

Can dimensions be changed to fit a room?

On most models, yes, and it is usually the best value available to a designer because the design and jigs already exist. Send the drawing and we will confirm what is buildable before you present it.

What if the client changes their mind after approval?

It depends entirely on the stage. Finishes and textiles can often change late; dimensions cannot once timber is cut. Ask us where the door closes for your specific piece and we will tell you plainly so you can manage the conversation with your client.

Will I be able to specify the same piece on another project?

Yes. Model specifications and finish references are held on record, so a piece specified this year can be reissued years later. Natural timber tone will be close rather than identical across separate production runs.

Do you work on residential projects as well as commercial?

Yes. Private residences, villas and small commercial interiors are a normal part of our designer work, alongside hospitality projects.

What a Designer Is Actually Trusting a Supplier With

When a designer specifies a piece, they are lending a supplier their client relationship. If the piece arrives late, wrong or different from the sample, the client does not blame the workshop in Bali. They blame the person who specified it. We try to hold that in mind in the parts of the process a designer cannot see.

Approved samples are retained physically and referenced by code, and production is inspected against the object rather than against a description. That is the mechanism behind a piece matching the board you showed your client, and it is why we would rather send a sample twice than approve a finish over email.

We report movement early rather than at the end. A designer told in week four that a date is slipping can rearrange an install and prepare a client; the same news in week ten costs them a relationship. This is the single most valuable thing a supplier can do for someone working to a handover date, and it costs us nothing but the discomfort of an early phone call.

Model specifications, finish formulations and dimensions are documented at first production, so a piece can be reissued for another project rather than reverse-engineered. Our artisans in Bali work to those records and to jigged dimensions, which is what makes the third specification of a chair sit correctly beside the first.

And we tell designers what we are not right for. A three-week programme, fire-rated upholstered seating, office and systems furniture, and high-gloss contemporary work all sit outside what we do. Declining those early protects a designer far more than accepting them would.

Starting With the Scheme Rather Than the Order

The designers who get the most out of a direct manufacturing relationship tend to do the same three things: they open the account before specifying so their client quoting is accurate, they get physical samples early enough to sit on a presentation board, and they send drawings rather than model names so dimensions fit the room.

If you are working on a scheme now, send the drawings, the tones you are considering and the install date. We will come back with what is buildable, what a dimensional change would cost and whether the programme holds — and if it does not, we will say so while you still have options. Open a designer account with our projects team, or see how selection and specification can be handled together through our design and sourcing services.