Because we work at the top end of the market, a lot of our time is spent ensuring you specify exactly the right light for your project. This includes making the right selections from the many options available with most designs—material, size, colour, method of suspension, LED light output and colour, dimming protocols, transformers, IP ratings, price….. (Which is why we don’t sell online, by the way—our rôle as consultants is to work with you to get all these details right for your specific requirements.)
Our rôle also means that we are dealing with the changes you request to standard designs—i.e. specials.
It is clear that specifying specials is not an area that it is thought necessary to cover in interior design syllabuses. So here is what you need to know.
Specials are possible, when:
the design is intended to be made site-specific. Good examples are the work of our Murano glass masters, of Windfall, ARTelier C, Woka and Design by Macha, and of the Universe series from Quasar.
they’re made to order by the artist or by highly skilled craftspeople in a workshop. (Unique characteristics can be incorporated during the build.)
the quantity is large enough.
A special is going to be more expensive, not because of high margins or expensive marketing, but because it costs more to make. (Fine lighting is very good value!) The corollary is that if a light is cheap, it comes in by the container-load from China and no customization is possible.
But we have been asked:
on a Wednesday for a special to be designed and priced by Friday
to create custom fittings where the quantity is only two
to get a light specially made because the standard version is too expensive.
Prima facie, always specify a standard item if the requirements are to keep the cost down, for a quick price, or for prompt delivery.
It comes down to labour and materials.
LABOUR
Time has to be spent by senior staff to design and schedule production of a special.
Once a catalogue item is launched, pretty much everything has been worked out. Issues will come up, of course, but there will be standardized systems controlling the stock, subassemblies and manufacturing. Packaging is designed and sitting on shelves. The light meets all the regulatory requirements.
As soon as we ask for something different, however, a miniature version of all the work that was done for the catalogue item has to be done again. The implications of the modifications have to be identified and designed around. (Greater weight may mean that the suspension components have to be changed, for example, or modifications made so that the tilt tests are passed.) Once quantities have been calculated, suppliers and subcontractors have to be negotiated with, specifically, and only, for the special.
Note also that we risk offending the artist/designer by asking for changes to what they have created. Some forbid any changes that they do not personally authorize. As a designer yourself, you will understand this.
Sometimes there is a charge for designing the special, which is not always deductible from the cost of the quantity.
MATERIALS
The unite cost will be higher
It takes on average two years for a lighting maker to bring an original concept to market. Many processes are taking place during this time, that are concerned not just with its design, packaging and pricing, but also with: what it will be made from; which subcontractors will be used; and how it will meet the relevant regulations (the main one of which -- IEC60598 -- is 216 pages long in its English version).
The prices of raw materials and sub-assemblies of the standard items are therefore tightly controlled. But a special undermines all this work. The larger the stock order is of, say, crystals of a particular type, the cheaper they will be. But, if the maker has to buy in a small quantity of something they don't stock, the unit cost will be considerably higher.
Some items—for example, fabric covers for cables—can only be bought in minimum lengths, which could be a kilometre. So, if only 4m are required for your special, they still have to buy 1000m.
The quantity required may increase
A change in size or density may mean an unexpected increase in the quantity of the raw materials used. I first addressed this in a post in 2013 called Specials: if I want my light twice as big, will it cost twice as much?
The answer was, No. It will cost more than double. Here’s one reason why (the other is, of course, labour).
Suppose your light is basically a sphere, like these Hellbobs from Windfall:
The size would be given by the diameter—you'd say, "I'd like one 100cm, rather than 50cm, in diameter". The quantity of materials used—the crystal components and the metal, in this case—is determined not by the diameter but by the area of the surface of the sphere. If you double the diameter, you more than double the surface area of the sphere.
At school, we learnt that the surface area of a sphere is given by the formula 4πr². The radius is half the diameter, so doubling the diameter doubles the radius.
But there are those other factors in the formula—the 4 and the π. So, for example, if the radius is 50, the surface area is 31,429 (50 x 50 x 22 ÷ 7 x 4). But double the radius to 100, the surface area becomes 125,714 (100 x 100 x 22 ÷ 7 x 4), which is not double, but four times the original area.
TIME
It’ll take time to design the special and time to cost it. It can’t be costed until it has been designed, which is why a price in a couple of days is impossible.
The highly skilled people who will do this work are not sitting around doing nothing, awaiting our email. They may have other work to finish before they can even look at our special. So might the subcontractors. It will take additional time to get components.
The modified version has to meet all the regulations. This may mean testing by a laboratory, which takes time.
Then, making the special has to be scheduled through production. Not only has a window to be found for it, but it will take longer than a standard item, and may need to be done by the most senior operatives. They will have to wait until the special parts have been delivered and tested.
Note also that commissioning a special can take up a lot of your time (and ours), as details are defined and agreed.
So...
…that’s all why, prima facie, always specify a standard item if the requirements are to keep the cost down, for a quick price, or for prompt delivery.
NB A lot of the above is also relevant to fully custom commissions, whether a quantity for hotel rooms, or a spiffing artwork for the foyer. But that’s for another post.
