This post is a paid partnership in collaboration with Joined + Jointed
Let me introduce you to Joined + Jointed, a London-based collective of celebrated designers and artisans brought together by a shared love of contemporary furniture, well-considered design and meticulous craft. Assembled by founder, and an award-winning designer himself, Samuel Chan, the eight designers – both established and up-and-coming, based across the world – have created a collection of over 250 original pieces, all at accessible price points.
If you’re looking for an elegant solid-wood dining table, a beautiful coffee table or a set of bedroom furniture that won’t go out of fashion, but don’t want to blow the budget on something bespoke, then look no further.
Handmade from a workshop in Shropshire, the furniture designs are built to last and carefully crafted by expert cabinetmakers out of solid oak or walnut wood. I recently paid a visit to their west London showroom to meet Samuel and have a look myself. My overall impression was that the pieces have a timeless feel and enduring appeal, the furniture appears solid, thoughtful and well-built, not cheap and flimsy. And at around £240 for a coffee table, £750 for a dining table and £435 for an armchair, the prices are appealing too.
Say Joined + Jointed, ‘We believe tomorrow’s classics are being imagined and created today. So we work only with designers who bring fresh inspiration to the contemporary furniture scene, resulting in a collection that’s completely new and unashamedly unique.
Every piece we produce has a story. We invite you to share these stories, discover the designers, meet the craftsmen. Find out not just what has shaped the furniture but also what has shaped the thinking behind each piece.’
Here I’ve styled their Wood III chair in my own home, while I chat to Joined + Jointed founder Samuel Chan from the brand’s showroom on the New King’s Road in west London. We talk about how the company started and how Joined + Jointed has evolved over the last four years, their ethos for hand-crafted contemporary furniture and the making process that goes on in their Shropshire workshop.
How did you start Joined + Jointed?
In 1995, I opened a showroom on the New King’s Road and created Channels, producing one-off bespoke pieces from our own workshop in Shropshire. Our reputation grew by word of mouth and we built up a long waiting list. But we realised that there was a lot of business opportunity being missed. I decided to set-up Joined + Jointed four years ago; the prime difference being that Channels is all my own designs, whereas with Joined + Jointed, I invited eight furniture designers and between the eight of us we have designed over 250 pieces.
By introducing Joined + Jointed I bridged the gap; customers come to Channels, if they cannot wait 16 weeks, they can have a look at Joined + Jointed as well – 90% of the products are ready and available in stock. The two brands both share the same workshop, so the business model is quite simple – you set up the machine, you produce one piece; you set up the machine and you can also product 25 pieces. The set-up time is exactly the same.
I started Joined + Jointed as an online business and we launched at designjunction at the London Design Festival. Within two weeks we were receiving emails from potential customers saying where can we see your furniture, so I realised with selling furniture, you can not just do it online, people want to touch it, feel it. I’ve had our showroom for the past 23 years, so now Joined + Jointed is downstairs in the basement space.
What is the ethos behind Joined + Jointed?
Being a designer and also a producer, I want to produce furniture to a client that can last for generations – it’s not you buy this piece, it can last for two years, that’s it and you chuck it away. For me, we’re senaitive about the environment – environmentally friendly and the materials we’re using – but I thought if we design something that can last for years to come, surely that is a good position, that’s sustainable. That is one of the key points that I want to stress – good design, good quality, that lasts for generations.
The story behind Joined + Jointed are the eight furniture designers that I invited to join me – some of them are good friends, we respect each other’s work and we all share a similar interest; we’re all passionate with timber. The whole process was six months, from the concept for the company to the launch at LDF. Full credit to the designers, when I showed them the vision, they came back very quickly with their drawings and sketches, and because its our own production facilities, we’re flexible and we were geared for that.
How does the design process work?
I show them a design brief, say I’m looking for a writing desk, I’d tell them the common dimensions the customer is looking for, so with all this basic information the designer will often come back within 3-4 weeks with sketches, then I will use my experience both as a designer and as a producer to try and bounce ideas, but at the same time I always respect their original concept. Then once both sides agree the design, we take it to the workshop, then we start the first prototype.
One of the strong points we have is that I’m a designer too. One of the common frustrations as a designer is that when we design a piece of furniture, we come up with a concept, we pass it to the manufacturer and the prototype comes back and a lot of detail has disappeared because the manufacturer wants to try and get the maximum profit margins. When I approach the designer to work for me, one of the things I ask is what the most important detail and I will make sure it won’t disappear.
My record for prototypes is one, sometimes not even a prototype. Because we know what we’re talking about, so when I sit down with a designer I understand what they’re looking for.
Can you tell me about your workshop?
I have two workshops – one in Shropshire, where I have about five people, then about 17 years ago my father helped me to set up a factory in China. Our business model means that we don’t subcontract our work, we do everything ourselves, which is very important to us. We are offering something at a very competitive price, we can do that because we are the designer, the manufacturer, the seller, all under one company.
We manage to control the quality of the design, which I think is lacking in the market. One of the classic signatures at Joined + Jointed is that each cabinetmaker looks after their own piece of furniture from start to finish, it’s not like a conveyor belt. I want that continuity and level of detail.
We even do our own delivery. We design the furniture, we manufacture the furniture, then when you come to the final hurdle, you deliver to the customer and pass the furniture on to someone else, then they damage it, and we decided we couldn’t do that. We make sure the furniture arrives in good condition and the customer is happy.
How many new pieces do you create per year?
We try to introduce three or four new pieces every year. During the last four years we’ve only added one person to the original line-up of eight designers. We’re constantly been approached, but I very much want to keep this original eight as one unit.
The line-up is definitely strong and I’m delighted they are all willing to join me, and hence the reason why the company is called Joined + Jointed. Eight of us, we’re joined together; jointed refers to the workmanship, the craftsmanship.
The latest development, we have teamed up with CASS, the furniture college, and set a design brief to the final year students to come up with a design. The chosen design will be made and launched it as this year’s London Design Festival, and on top of that, we will also pay them design royalties. When I was a student you didn’t have the opportunities to design what I call a serious and real project, everything was just a concept.
We will also be launching some new pieces at Grand Designs this year.
What are your most popular pieces of furniture?
One of our bestselling pieces is the Willow dining chair. It’s designed by Sean Yoo, a Korean designer based in America, who trained in Milan. The whole chair is made entirely by hand, it’s very lightweight, and it has some very subtle details, for example when you put the back of the leg against the skirting board, the top of seat will never touch the wall so you will not damage it. Details like that, it shows that the designer cares about the piece.
We always try to refine and improve the product. After we launched the chair four years ago, last summer we introduced a version with short arms. It’s very good for when you have desk or table and you can push the chair in.
I also like what Simon Pengelly did for me last year with his bedroom range. Simon is a well established designer; he’s very humble and pays a lot of attention to detail. When he first started out he spent a few years working with Habitat, who are still selling his Radius range. This new design has some similarity with Radius, but it’s much more refined. From a bedside cabinet to a chest of drawers, the collection has very sweet proportions and details.
Now let me tell you a bit about the Wood III chair in walnut seen here. It was conceived by Danish product designer Henrik Soerig, who has created pieces for brands such as Bang & Olufsen. Trained as a joiner, Soerig has a passion for investigating the natural of materials and creating ‘pieces that continue to give surprise and pleasure long after the purchase’.
The Wood III chair emerged during a residency with the Danish Art Workshops, where he developed a concept for a good-looking and comfortable lounge chair using basic but meticulous woodwork.
This version is finished in solid walnut with grey wool felt upholstery (£435) but it’s also available in oak (£395). It’s neat, lightweight and compact, fitting into small spaces to create an inviting, cosy corner. The tilted back supports the back and the low base provides a generous seat. The wool is soft to touch, while the combination with the dark wood makes for an understated yet luxurious chair.
So there we are, I hope this post has given you an insight into Joined + Jointed and their ethos for hand-crafted contemporary furniture. Were you familiar with them before or are they a new name to you?
All images Cate St Hill
