Last time we stopped on the following steps of bamboo furniture manufacturing like a choice of bamboo species, a confirmation of furniture measurements and specifications and a preparation of quotation. Let’s delve into each step in details now.
Bamboo Species Selection
Different pieces of furniture require different species of bamboo. In case of bulky furniture like beds, we need bamboo poles with big diameter while for more light furniture like chairs or tables bamboo poles with smaller diameter will be more suitable. Often we mix different species of bamboo in the same piece of furniture to achieve the best quality and durability.
The choice of bamboo can be dictated not only by physical parameters of furniture but also by design. Depending on the design, sometimes we need to use different elements of bamboo like bottom of bamboo culms, split bamboo, bamboo slats, woven bamboo sheet and so on.
A good example of mixed bamboo materials in one piece of furniture. Kiri Bamboo team used whole bamboo poles, split bamboo sheets and woven bamboo sheets to make this screen divider (Photo by Kiri Bamboo)
Furniture Specifications
It’s important to agree with all measurements for a planned bamboo furniture and get the approval from a client to use settled specifications before an actual manufacturing step. On some occasions, Kiri Bamboo team members will visit the actual location for the proposed furniture setup to make all required measurements by themselves.
Price establishment
After all specifications are discussed with a client, we can make some price estimations for a final product. If a client wishes to have furniture that was already made by our company in the past, then it’s easy to give a clear price at the start. However if we are required to make a rather unique piece of furniture or something new that Kiri Bamboo team has never done before, we often can only provide the estimated quote. In such cases, a final price can be different from a quoted price within the range of 10-25% where a main factor of the price diversion is required labor to craft a final product. We pay decent salaries to our craftsmen which are above the market average and provide other benefits to them such as social security fund and other allowances and we need to make sure that all our expenses are covered during the production cycle.
If everything is agreed and settled with a client, we finally can proceed to the actual production stage. In the next part of blog series, we will take the real case of bamboo master bed as a good example of production stage.
Stay tuned!
Related Links: