We are delighted to announce that Crafted Furniture will be exhibiting their beautiful collections for the first time at the Australian International Furniture Fair (AIFF) and Decor + Design, 13 – 16 July 2023 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

Crafted is an Australian Made brand with a deep love of design and local craftsmanship. They give clients a unique level of customisation, as their in-house design service takes a personalised approach to creating pieces which will transform spaces. It’s no wonder that their exquisite range of fully customisable sofas, armchairs, beds and ottomans have won fans all over Australia.

We spoke to the Director of Crafted, Rahul Raja, about the inspirations behind the brand, as well as the bespoke design and manufacturing process that goes into every singe piece.

Rahul, can you tell us more about the foundations of Crafted Furniture and who you are today?

Before founding Crafted in 2015, we had a background in importing furniture. However, we were growing increasingly frustrated with the lead times and quality of the products coming from overseas. We thought to ourselves – why can’t we make these products locally?

We started off working on commercial projects initially, and then we made a big push into the retail segment with the belief that there was space in the market for a brand that is locally made, customisable and at a price point that is accessible.

How would you describe the brand’s aesthetic?

Crafted’s aesthetic is proudly influenced by our beautiful harbour city, Sydney, where we make all our products. Think beachy, coastal pieces with flowing slipcovers and super comfy lounges. We think of this aesthetic as ‘relaxed but refined’ – furniture that looks beautiful and elegant without being pretentious or cold. Our customers also love to specify natural linens and other materials that reflect a genuine connection with their lifestyle, which suits the style of our products exceptionally well.

Image: Crafted Furniture

Please tell us more about the design and manufacturing process.

The ethos of the brand is to manufacture and source as much of the product range as possible locally.

Our products are made in Sydney, where we do the framing, sewing and upholstery. We also have supplier partners around Australia – for example, specialty legs are hand-turned by a partner in Victoria, and our super soft feather cushion inserts come from a small multi-generational family business in Melbourne.

Image: Crafted’s Melbourne Showroom in Richmond. Image: @craftedfurnituresydney

This means that when a customer asks us to create something bespoke for them, we can customise the individual components of a piece for them.

Can you share some exciting residential or commercial projects that you’ve worked on recently?

It’s so hard to choose individual projects – we’re proud to have our furniture featured in many stunning homes around Australia, and we’ve been lucky enough to have some truly well-known Australians select pieces from our collections for their own homes – including sports stars, business leaders and media personalities.

Image: Crafted customer @aisha_jade seated on the Ella Modular lounge. @craftedfurnituresydney

It’s so hard to choose individual projects – we’re proud to have our furniture featured in many stunning homes around Australia, and we’ve been lucky enough to have some truly well-known Australians select pieces from our collections for their own homes – including sports stars, business leaders and media personalities.

We’ve delivered our products all over Australia, from ski chalets in the Snowy Mountains to Tropical FNQ, and each project we work on is exciting because of the different challenges it presents.

Recently we’ve worked on custom pieces for a private wine tasting room (designed by the lovely folk at Wine & Vault, who specialise in custom cellars and tasting rooms!) – this presents a unique challenge in creating products that not only suit a certain aesthetic but have very tight access and space requirements – and need to be able to handle the occasional wine spill!

We also produced a fully custom version of our Grace Collection for an incredible sunken lounge project – this was challenging as the tolerances need to be perfect, but the end result was a stunning family relaxation space.

We’re proud to have worked with a huge number of leading interior designers on custom projects around Australia. Our trade program allows interior designers to access special pricing and personalised service from our in-house team.

We generally share a large selection of our pieces on our Instagram, so check @craftedfurnituresydney for the latest projects and products we’ve been working on!

What degree of customisation is available to design industry clients?

Almost any aspect of our products can be customised, whether it’s the big things like dimensions, configuration, comfort and fabrics – or getting down to more detailed customisation like stitching styles or the curvature of an arm. Our in-house team is able to prepare custom drawings and technical specifications, allowing us to have a seamless experience from customising the product in a showroom to producing it on the factory floor.

Image: The Henry Sofa from Crafted Furniture

And whether it’s modifying something from our existing collection or creating something new, we offer lead times of 8 – 10 weeks so that designers can specify our products with confidence that they will be delivered to schedule and without the worry of importing products and the issues that can arise from that.

We’re excited you will be exhibiting for the first time in 2023 at Decor + Design in Melbourne. Why have you decided to exhibit – and what can visitors expect to see?

We want to share our ethos of Australian-made, customisable, accessible products with the industry – we would love for people to see the beauty in having a product in your home that was created specifically for that space.

We’ll have models from some of our most popular legacy collections on display, as well as select pieces from a brand new collection that’s inspired by Australian architecture and the natural environment.

See Crafted’s beautiful pieces in person at the Australian International Furniture Fair (AIFF) and Decor + Design, 13 – 16 July 2023 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. The theme for the 19th edition of the show is Elevate, with an increased focus on Australian Made and socially conscious design. Register now to see exhibitors across indoor and outdoor furniture, lighting, textiles, kitchens and bathrooms and art.