Councill Furniture

[drcollie]

My first piece of Councill furniture arrived yesterday:

http://www.councill.com/item/2421

and I eagerly unpacked it, anxious to see if it lives up to the hype......After I uncrated it and set it on display I poked around on it A LOT, and have mixed emotions about the brand.

I have to preface this review with a comment before I continue. In our industry, one is expected to always make glowing reviews about products they carry. You will rarely find anyone in the trade who is frank on opinions because its bad for business to make a negative comment on a brand you carry. Having said I feel a forum such as we have here is worthless if I (or anyone else) reviews a makers product and isn't honest and straight up in their opinions. So here's what i think:

Based on what I've seen on this piece, the 2421 Huntboard, its a premium FACTORY MADE piece that is as good or better then anything on the market. The design is excellent, proportions are well thought out, and the finish is primo.

However, compared to hand-crafted, artisian-made pieces, it falls short. There is extensive use of plywood in the piece, not only for the back, but drawer bottoms and for underlayment for veneers. I don't want to see Plywood in pieces that sell for close to $ 5,000 at retail. The machine-cut dovetails are full of slop that was covered in putty paste hoping that the casual observer would not notice. The hinges on the side doors are wrong, who found those? Should be a butt hinge. Some of these faults cost only a few dollars to remedy, so I have to think its not because they're cheap, its that "we've always done it this way" mentality.

So overall I'd give this a 'C' grade. For the same money, I can get an 'A' grade piece properly done from one of my artisan craftsmen that will not have the plywood, poorly done dovetails and use better hardware on it.

its not all bad news however, as Councill has a nicely done finish and good design, excellent inlays. As production furniture, its right near the top.

I'll post photos at a later date.

[Sarah]

Duane, thank you for always being so honest - that is why I have purchased from you & will be back to purchase additional pieces in the future. Your honesty & integrity are outstanding.

As an artist myself (photographer) I appreciate hand-made goods. Regardless of how great a "brand" of furniture may be, I will always be drawn to the bench-made pieces that show the skill & artistry of their craftsman.

[drcollie]

Thank you, Sarah!

The Benchmade pieces are always better, and always will be. A lot of folks are put off by not buying a 'brand' name for several reasons - similar to going to McDonalds for a burger and fries. With the brand name, you always know you have a reasonably consistent product backed by a large company. Like a Big Mac, it may not be the best burger, but you know what you're going to get.

I also think there is some comfort in slick web sites, nice ads in the magazines, impressive catalogs and the like. The factory made high end has that, the handmade stuff does not. Its a bit of a leap-of-faith to commission a benchmade piece. You have to have absolute trust in your selling dealer to do that, and that dealer has to have the integrity and experience to know whom to route your order to.

High end cabinentmakers are terrible businessmen. Probably the worst I've ever seen. They abhor electronic communication (computers, email, web sites, even photography). have no idea how to market, and think having a fax machine and color photocopier is high tech. They mange money poorly, and usually have poor communications skills with the public. However, they know how to build things correctly, pick lumber, and have huge pride in workmanship. Each piece is one of their 'babies' and they always want to know if the customer was happy with it. One of my cabinentmakers (Mark Emirzian) has a sequential serial number he stamps into every piece me makes. He started at number 1, and no matter if its a mirror or a Secretary Desk every piece gets stamped in the order he made it. I think that after 27 years he's up around number 3,000 right now.

When you have production "brand name" pieces you have to pay for the layers. All that web/catalog/advertising costs a lot of money, with support staff to manage it. The overhead is much higher, as are the costs of production machinery vs. hand tools. So the end result is the overhead in brand-name pieces is considerably higher, meaning less of each dollar goes into the piece itself.

For example, high speed 5- axis CNC router used to cut dovetails (and other operations) is a $ 200K machine that usually requires hiring a computer programmer on staff to run it. A backsaw and a pencil only cost $ 25, but the person using it has to know how to hand-cut dovetails, and if he knows the craft can do it almost as quickly as the machines.

I showed the Councill piece to John Buchanan when he was in my store bringing me some new pieces late on Friday, July 3rd. He looked it all over then asked me how much it cost? When I told him, his eyes got big and he said 'I can build you a real one for that kind of money'. I've no doubt that he could!

[simplicityseeker]

Hi Duane: Thanks so much for your honest assessment of Councill. I had visited their website and absolutely loved the pieces I saw there, so I'm a little deflated by your opinion of their craftsmanship. You're right; it does take a leap of faith to have something custom made by a high end craftsman. It's so much easier to find what you like by looking at ads and websites.

So here's my question: If I like a piece that Councill makes, can I send a picture of it to you and have one of your craftsmen duplicate the design, while creating a better-built piece of furniture?

[drcollie]

There seems to be a mindset in making furniture based on region, and its very evident when looking at a piece where it comes from. Councill is top-of-the-line or production furniture coming out of North Carolina. Based on how they do furniture there, its 5-star. But all the Carolina makers just can't get rid of those plywood drawer bottoms with the half-dozen glue blocks, the plywood backs, the veneer over plywood, and all dovetails jig or machine cut. Its how they do it there.

A New England shop, by comparison, will use the correct white pine drawer bottoms and backs with thin dovetails. In Pennsylvania/Ohio, they will be done likewise in poplar and chunkier dovetails. I can usually recognize a region where the piece has been made just by looking at material and joinery.

Yes, I have a couple of makers that have 'the eye' to scratch build off a photo ("Sarah" here on the list recently got a piece on commission that way), and they do it old school, hand-crafted. You have to have a tolerance for some adventure, and artistic leeway in the making of such a thing. Its not for someone that wants to see cookie-cutter perfection. However, the result it usually terrific and very few are ever less than thrilled. In fact, for me its a lot of fun, because I know the jobs usually exceed expectations from the customer.

Not everyone can do that, however. I only trust those jobs to two of my cabinentmakers, John Buchanan and Mark Emirzian. I have other builders, but they don't have that critical eye to get it right on the first attempt. By the third attempt they nail it down, but what do you do with the two off-proportion prototypes??!

One thing in commissioning a piece is that you can't be looking to barter or wait for a 'sale'. The price is the price, and then you have to say either build it....or not. And there's not a refund/refusal policy on commissioned pieces for the most part.

You do get more furniture for your dollar, however. All those layers of management and support staff are gone, and the materials are in the furniture, along with the art of craftsmanship.

[Sarah]

Here is a link to the commissioned piece Duane that mentioned: http://myfurnitureforum.com/showthre...stom+sideboard

I absolutely love it & John executed the piece perfectly!

[simplicityseeker]

Thanks to both of you; it is definitely food for thought and an idea that I am excited by. Sarah, your sideboard is gorgeous. I've looked at some of the photos of furniture by both of these craftsmen on the forum, and am so impressed by the beauty. There's a photo of a hepplewhite game table by Mark Emirzian on the forum that I absolutely love. I have no problem with artistic leeway and would not want or expect an exact duplicate of anything photographed -- I think using a photograph of something I really like would make it easier for me to explain what I'm looking for and would be a great starting point in commissioning a piece. What an exciting thought!

Duane: on a completely different note, are there any quality clockmakers that you could recommend? I'm looking for a mantel clock.

[drcollie]

Hmmmm...nothing in mantle clocks that i know of. Perhaps shop for a restored antique? Something along these lines:


http://www.vermontclockman.com/