Vast selection—few real choices.

Flexibility in design has become more difficult to achieve, forcing designers to settle more and more—settle for something close enough, rather than just right. Behind the “why” are a lot of reasons, but one is that most manufacturers depend on imports that only come one way, making it harder for designers to stick with an original design scheme; even forcing a mid-stream change in color schemes to accommodate pieces that are available, instead of maintaining the original design integrity. 

There are vast choices on the Internet—or are there? Web shopping offers a lot of sources. But those choices are really just sites picking up on the same “what you see is what you get” merchandise. Sure, there is more, but it’s more of the same rather than more choice—or at least flexibility in choice. 

More of anything does not necessarily give you more choice just more. Flexibility of choice is the key to a good design. And furniture needs the same flexibility as any other aspect of the design job, the perfect color, the right fabrics, and ideal lighting. They work together, not separately. 

So what does that mean to you. Well, we all know things in the design business are constantly going in and out of style. So I’ve developed an interest in creating pieces that should exist, but don’t for whatever reason. One such piece is an executive chair that needed to have a mesh seat and back for the comfort of the user, yet needed to function in a very traditional design scheme. The challenge was to take an ultra contemporary chair and soften it into a more transitional feel.

This same process can be used all kinds of products, from chairs to floor screens. Products can be fine-tuned to the needs of the design, instead of making the design conform to the product at hand. But this can only be done when you have real choices for pieces, available in various grades and offerings of fabric, trim, and finish. 

    

It's Alive!

Buying or specifying furniture is not the same as it was twenty years ago, or even ten. Choices, sources, and quality are all over the map. You can still find showrooms, although fewer and fewer, where you can sit with a professional and really customize a piece of furniture—blending your selections of finish, fabric, or trim and other options. But it has to come in faster and at the right price. In no universe will you ever be able to special order a Karges piece and have it delivered by dinner time. And while customers often want to “walk out’ with their choice, there are reasons to be patient and wait a few weeks or so for delivery.

To that end, I’ve been working on a new website for more than year. And after a year of development, I am thrilled to announce it is up and running! It’s the next evolution for McKenzie Galleries & Commercial, which has a history of serving both commercial and residential project clients, small to large installations for many, many decades. The URL is www.mckenziegalleries.com, and on it are more than 1,000 items. Not everything we offer, but a lot!

The site is unique in that it is completely interactive.  Visitors have the ability to choose from almost as many features for their furniture as available in a traditional brick and mortar showroom.

The great thing about this is you if you don’t like the finish or fabric on the displayed piece, you can pick from a wide selection of wood and metal finishes, fabric and leather choices, as well as trim and more. This platform also calculates, or recalculates as needed, the price as options are chosen. 

Okay, other businesses and industries have developed complex websites, yes, but few have the complexity that furniture requires to meet an individual’s need.  So this may well be the first of its kind for furniture, I hope you’ll think so.

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

Max McKenzie