Designtree

The client need

Designtree’s co-owner, Tim Wigmore, had sourced parts for their designer furniture and lighting products from several suppliers. One part was a bit tricky, though it looked deceptively simple. His biggest mission was getting the required custom finish in small quantities… economically.

They were getting their lamp base done by water-jet cutting and milling, but it didn’t quite have the precision finish they wanted. Hand-finishing would have worked, but it was too laborious, inconsistent, and expensive.

The Metco experience in the client’s words

“Paul spoke to us about what Metco could do with laser cutting and complex milling with minimal labour handling, in a way we hadn’t thought of.

He produced a sample, but it didn’t quite have the finish we had in mind. The main challenge was welding the two sides of the ‘boomerang’ shaped base together and then machining it to get a consistent seamless look. So we dialogued with Paul again to find a better way.

He came up with another approach which turned out to make the difference and we were really pleased with the result.

Because we deliver our products flat-packed, it’s really important to have our parts fitting precisely so there’s no hassle for customers having to adjust anything as they put them together.”