It’s here, the summer of 2024 on Oregon’s South Coast. Where did the time go? Our last blog entry was in November of last year and I haven’t gotten around to adding to it since then. Well here goes nothing.

Let’s talk a bit about furniture and what I’m trying to do with Dredge Design. In my head I’ve wanted to create a line of furniture that maybe some day is recognizable (at least in the niche furniture world) and distinguishable as it’s own small batch or (bespoke) furniture brand. This has been the overarching goal that I constantly keep re-visiting seemingly each year. Again as I write this know I am revisiting the thought and again trying to cement the idea of how this may work into my brain.

This concept of a production line (albeit a small batch production line) makes sense in a practical number crunching way, and very interesting as a design challenge; in which the pieces that are in the collection should relate to each other while, making sure that there are enough differences to not get backed into a corner. However, as I design more pieces and the collection gets a bit more filled in, I find myself wondering why don’t these collection pieces sell? At shows, people swing by and talk about how interesting, fresh, and modern the pieces that I am showing are, and that they are excited to see the take on modern furniture that I’ve chosen. In short the feed back is positive, and numerous. However, the amount of times that someone that has had the (I love this and what you’re doing, but…) conversation with me is an overwhelming majority.

The “but” conversations aren’t inherently bad conversations they tend to lead down the road of a custom piece of furniture, and that is helpful and mutually beneficial. But while sitting here pondering again the idea of how do I create a small production line, I have to think that in year 7 I’m not drowning in people wanting my version of “x” and I am thinking a couple of things.

A) I am not showing my product in the right environment.
B) I don’t have unique enough pieces.
C) I’m failing at connecting the different pieces in a cohesive way.
D) I’m missing the big picture of what people want to buy when it comes to furniture.

This leads me to a question that I’ve been pondering. Do I need to niche down? Is that the real problem? have I been trying to build a production company on the same mentality and quick pivoting action of a custom furniture shop. It wouldn’t surprise me as custom is where I’ve come from.

I’ll leave you with the same question to ponder, and perhaps in the next blog, I may have a better answer as how to direct my energy. If you the reader have any suggestions, please leave a comment, or send me an email.
info@dredge.design