Delivering tailor-made designs

Retail magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges department store, has been attributed as having coined the phrase: ‘the customer is always right’, which has become the cornerstone of many successful businesses since the early 1900s.

Harry knew that a happy customer would most likely be a repeat customer and so exhorted his staff to offer the utmost customer service at all times. Harry died in 1947 but his legacy continues with Selfridges celebrating its 111th birthday this year. One could argue that Harry’s determination to go above and beyond for his customers paid off.

It is a sentiment echoed by Rod Hanna, Managing Director of Designers’ Collection, a furniture design and manufacturing company that caters to architects and interior designers.

“We partner with design professionals to create beautiful, highly personalised living and work spaces for their clients. Our passion is design in all its facets and how it can enhance people's lifestyles.”

Between them, Rod and his team have nearly 100 years’ experience in the design industry and have been working closely with local artisans for 30-plus years.

“Our success is due in large part to the strong relationships we have built up over the years, which enable us to offer our clients the level of service they demand. We have four key Auckland-based manufacturers, each with their own strengths, who have the same exacting standards that we do. They enable us to offer lots of flexibility while still maintaining control over quality. What this means for our clients is that we can offer them customised products within six weeks of ordering.

“This is really something quite special that we can offer industry clients, either products from our own range of designs, which we are always expanding, or fully bespoke pieces.”

“Our goal with Designers’ Collection is to do things differently from other design houses, which is why we’re not a retail operation. Sure, homeowners are welcome to come into the showroom but if they wish to make a purchase, they need to have their architect or designer with them.

“Our showroom is very much a working environment and so we encourage architects and designers to make an appointment if they want to discuss having products designed and/or manufactured as sessions generally take anywhere from 2–4 hours.

“Our consultants can be as hands-on as the client requires and we have the capability to supply an entire house-lot of furniture or just simply a coffee table. Also, visitors will have at their disposal access to the experts from D&F, importers of select fabrics and wall coverings.”

Rod says a couple of years ago he and the team started thinking about complementing their bespoke offering with works from other design houses.

“It was a deliberate step to partner with three very innovative Italian designers—Exteta, Edizione and VeniceM. Exteta, in particular, produces pieces that are highly differentiated from anything currently in New Zealand. Artistic Director, Massimo Castagna has an extraordinary eye for elevating simple forms to something altogether different and highly elegant.

“Our other collaborations—Edizione and VeniceM—bring an idiosyncratic appeal to the design process, producing pieces that are at once identifiable and highly functional but with a sharpness of aesthetic that can be quite breathtaking.”

Rod says the decision to augment their locally designed and manufactured offering with pieces from these Italian designers was as a response to the industry’s call for suppliers with the knowledge and expertise to go beyond the norm.

“You have to have a relatively general competency across a number of product groups rather than just concentrating on a particular bent and that is what we can offer our clients. Our strength lies in our ability to work with other design professionals to realise their vision and their clients’ visions—either by providing pieces from our own range or those of our partners.”

Learn more about the Designers’ Collection process and products.