Arrister Aims to Bring Custom-Sized Furniture to the Masses

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  John Kestner

  5 years ago

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  Late to the party here. I think that the other commenters touch on it: designer furniture is not an impulse buy, and Ikea sets a low bar for cost. But those are just constraints they could design around. Kickstarter is about buying an idea as much as the product — do that, and you'll create enough object lust to make people buy in.

  
  

  In this case, I think the design is, superficially, too similar to the IKEA Lack. For that price, you want to have a design that has more of a craftsman's touch, even just some routed details. But more importantly, if your big selling point is infinite customizability, then you're designing the experience of customization as much as the table itself. That should be more visually apparent, in the campaign and the product. The GIF of the tool that lets you size a table for the room was a start. But not quite exciting enough. What if you could just take a photo and it'd figure it out? How about a motif on the table legs and top that points to its nature, like a ruler or grid or draftsman marks? 

  
  

  Or a user-provided component that truly makes it their own. For a customizable object, it's pretty dry. It could just be that matching the exact dimensions of that space between your couch and the wall is not the kind of customization that people are demanding.

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  marc b

  5 years ago

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  The contrasting colors aren't doing it for me, but if I was in the market for a dining  or coffee table, theirs would be in the running at those prices.

  
  

  I think that part of the problem might be that furniture isn't really an impulse buy in the way that so many Kickstarter projects are.  But I wish them luck- it's good to see domestically-made furniture for sensible money.

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    Sabine Hoffmann

    marc b

    5 years ago

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    you are right.

    i would say the same!

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  Spencer Nugent

  5 years ago

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  I think people are just cheap  -- maybe cheap is too strong a word but I think there's a lack of understanding of what goes into making quality furniture. I've made custom pieces for clients that cost thousands of dollars and will last a lifetime and those clients love their furniture.  However, there's always a look of shock after the initial design review and budget is then discussed. IKEA and other low cost furniture stores and manufacturers that deliver on looks but lack quality have set an expectation for pricing that is hard to compete with when the person buying the furniture doesn't care for something that will last a lifetime.

  
  

  I like the concept of the kickstarter and he simplicity of the pieces but I think that while the prices do reflect, in my opinion based on the description of materials, the cost of materials, that most people won't get why t costs as much as it does because of the simple design  

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