A conversation with Maker & Co.

Introduction

The studio occupies the back half of a former joinery, which is either romantic or extremely cold depending on the month. The founders moved in three years ago with a shared workbench and a rule that no project would be taken on twice.

That rule turned out to be the whole business model. Every commission has to teach them something, which sounds precious until you see the catalogue and realise none of it repeats.

We started by asking about the part nobody photographs: the four weeks between a signed brief and the first drawing, when the answer is usually that the client wants something they have not been able to name yet.

Their process for getting there is deliberately unglamorous. Three visits before any drawing, photographs of everything the client already owns, and a standing question about what they would take with them if they moved.

The answers rarely match the brief, and reconciling the two in public — with the client in the room — is where most of the real design happens.

Software and tools

Almost none, by choice. Measurements go into one shared document, drawings are done by hand and scanned, and the only software either of them will defend is the invoicing.

The argument is not nostalgia. It is that a rough drawing invites correction and a rendered one invites approval, and they would rather be corrected early.

Other resources

Asked what they would tell a studio starting now, they landed on three things:

1. Visit the space three times before drawing anything.
2. Photograph what the client already owns and loves.
3. Charge for the thinking, not for the drawings.

The workshop is expanding next spring, which they describe with a level of dread that suggests they know exactly what growth does to a two-person studio.

Their plan is to stay small enough that both founders are still on every job. We will check back in a year.