Fiona McDonald has been sourcing antiques for over twenty years and her central London showroom has an established reputation for offering elegant and distinctive mid-century designs including furniture, seating, lighting, mirrors, accessories and artworks. More recently, she has expanded her custom made range, Fiona McDonald MAKES. Here, she tells us about how she developed her business and gives expert advice on commissioning bespoke pieces.
Can you give us some background on your business – when and why did you launch and how has it grown since then?
I’ve been sourcing mid-century antiques for over 25 years now. Something well designed and well made is hard to resist buying. It’s always exciting to discover a neglected item and visualise its potential. We started to develop the custom made range, Fiona McDonald MAKES about ten years later. It became rarer to find genuine, high quality mid-century items and at the same time, we were constantly receiving requests to source specific pieces for design projects so we decided to launch our own range.
Image – Cosmo cabinet in mahogany, Caspar armchair and footstool and original 1970s Italian lamp.What type of does your collection include and where do you take inspiration from?
We offer thoughtfully made, beautiful pieces and keep a close eye on how they will be used from day to day. Attention is really focussed on how people will sit comfortably around the legs of dining tables, or where the drinks will be mixed on a well-stocked drinks cabinet for example. I still take a lot of inspiration from the mid-century pieces I continue to find on buying trips; an unusual Murano glass vase may influence the colour of a chandelier design, or the timber finish on a 1940s cabinet may complete the look of a dining table design we’re developing.
Image – Oslo table in oak, Nova chair in walnut with Danish cord seat and original 1970s accessories. Where are the designs made and by whom?
All of our furniture, seating and mirrors are hand made in England and the lighting is made in Italy. The heart of the business is our dedicated team of artisans and furniture makers who combine time-honoured construction methods and luxury finishes with modern techniques in order to create custom pieces that meet our exacting standards. We place the utmost importance on the quality of our materials and craftsmanship in order to provide exceptional items that are built to last.
Image – Florence sideboard in oak with raffia detail, Enzo chair and 1970s accessoriesWhat is the process if a client wanted to commission a custom made furniture, lighting or accessories – how would you and the craftspeople work with them to get the best possible result?
We pride ourselves in making the process simple and clear. Customising our designs can be approached from whichever direction the client chooses – either via conversations, sketches or CADs (computer-aided designs). We have a range of standard woods and finishes along with twelve different metal finishes to choose from, but these are only a starting point and we can copy any finish that the client would like to specify. Different configurations of doors and drawers can be ordered, along with any change to the measurements as shown online.
Image – Edra cabinet in walnut. Accessories are the client’s own.What might be a scenario where a client might want to customise a piece?
Customers regularly wish to create bespoke designs either to ensure a perfect fit in a particular space or fulfil a different usage. Maybe an alcove that’s a little smaller than the example photographed on the website, so they need a specific size. Often sideboards are elongated, doors changed to drawers or a combination ordered depending on where which room it’s for. We also sell to designers of hospitality projects and can easily adapt our designs to suit any function, and to fit any space large or small.
Image – Bespoke Valentina sideboard and Verona Mirror. Accessories are the client’s own.Is it possible for a client to ask you to help them create something completely bespoke?
Absolutely. For us, ‘bespoke’ means every element is exclusively handcrafted to order. We regularly develop custom furniture with clients from conversations and/or sketches to create unique pieces. For example, inspiration may have come from the handle of a sideboard, which we can then combine with a leg they’ve seen on a cabinet and a favourite paint colour.
Image – Bespoke Roma console. Accessories are the client’s own. From your experience, is there anything that one should be wary of when commissioning a bespoke piece?
Always ask for annotated drawings. We always provide Computer Aided Drawings, known as CADs for approval. It helps iron out any preconceptions of what a piece will look like onsite.
Image – CAD drawings of a bespoke piece. What would the timeline be from start to finish?
Using one of our designs, we generally advise 10 – 12 weeks if the piece has standard finishes, and we have a range of measurements priced up for speed of quoting. Completely bespoke designs can take longer as the design stage takes a while. However, we do try to keep a few pieces available for instant delivery so do please enquire.
Image – Claude cabinet in walnut, Claude bench in walnut, Verona mirror and original 1950s Ceramics. What is next for Fiona McDonald Bespoke?
We always have a few designs milling around in our minds. We’re finalising the design of a new writing table in elm with inset circular handles. It has a curved front and can be used as a dressing table or if ordered narrower and taller, as a console and a sideboard.
Image – Luca chandelier in smoked glass, ebonized Riva table and original 1950s accessories. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about long-standing House Directory member Fiona McDonald’s business and have found her advice useful. If you’d like to commission a bespoke piece of furniture, visit www.fionamcdonald.com.
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