Monthly Archives: February 2018
Online furniture photography: it’s all about location
As an online furniture manufacturer, we know it’s hard to visualise how furniture can look in a home. We also believe that great photos of our furniture is a really useful tool for us. Striking images of our products are really important for our website but also for our social media. We also wanted to help our customers see what we do when we are designing and manufacturing our tables, chairs and other IronFire products.
A ‘hero shot’ involving as many of our products as possible has been a goal of ours for a while now. We have however had to take several factors into consideration. Firstly, which products to include? Our range is so diverse that this has been a real learning curve for us!
Then we needed to consider in which context to photograph them. Our current favourite finish is using a Yakisugi process. This involves burning the wood to create a stunning finish, and has proved popular with customers.
At the same time another favourite is our rustic oak.
With the colour sorted, we now needed a location.
As our furniture has an industrial theme, we wanted somewhere that fitted our style. In our heads we had visions of an exposed brick wall background. Sufficient space is also an issue, so sourcing the right location for photographing online furniture became our holy grail!
Lots of Googling ensued, but nothing was quite right…until we remembered Sam’s Kitchen in Frome! It’s an Edwardian building on Catherine Street. Downstairs there’s a busy bistro and cafe but upstairs..exposed brick walls, wooden floors and high ceilings. There’s a huge window and so plenty of natural light and everything’s Hygge style and cosy with a log burner. We had hit the jackpot and the generous owner was up for letting us use it out of hours.
Usually a perfect spot to relax with one of Sam’s famous hot chocolates, Ironfire took over as they closed. We rapidly transformed the space, not only into an IronFire living room, but also into an IronFire dining room.
Sam’s Kitchen in its natural state!
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On a (strictly business of course) research trip round the Pubs in Frome we had met up with Drew Gardner.
We were fascinated to discover a photographer with an extraordinary and quirky style. We just had to use his skills once we’d been up and seen his etchings (well, shared a pint or two) .
Our faith was repaid and Frome’s own Cecil B DeMille bowled us over. Thanks Drew! You can contact him here.
Our range of online furniture looked completely at home!
In fact it was exactly how we had envisioned a range shot looking featuring as many of our products as possible. Not to mention the first outing of an IronFire bench, our newest design.
We can’t thank Sam enough for allowing us to use this space.
Sam and his team have since relocated and are now catering an event near you or from their beautiful Barn just outside Bath. Find all the contact details here We know first-hand from being on our shoot just how welcoming they are, how relaxing they make things and how great their food is. In fact we can’t recommend them enough – from one local business to another – Thanks for all the support!
- For longevity, try to stay away from thick veneer and aim for real wood. Veneer will lift up over time and move away from the table, and a good ways of telling if the table is made of veneer is if visible seams can be seen. Real wood is always a better option, both for aesthetics and longevity.
- Measure your room well – this may seem obvious but you need to take into account if the table will be living in the kitchen, dining or living room; if it is going to be in the way of general everyday traffic and therefore needs to be pushed against a wall, or if it will be permanent and therefore needs enough room to be able to negotiate around. As a general rule, if you leave around 50 inches of space between the back of the chairs and the wall, you should be ok!
- Don’t discount outdoor materials – these can look rustic, be hardwearing as well as being fire and UV resistant. Maybe draw the line at a plastic picnic table though, unless your guests are really messy eaters!
- It’s not likely that you’ll be in a position to be updating your dining table as often as other easily interchangeable interior pieces in your home, so see it as a key piece and try to spend as much as you are able on it with the view that it is a long term investment.
- Do you have children? Lots of parties or events? Look at getting a glass protective top to give you even more life and usage out of it, which also saves you having to cover it with a tablecloth for protection.
- Don’t be constrained by chairs – why stick to 8 of the same matching chairs when there are so many opportunities to change it up. Use a combination of different chairs with a variety of backs, colours, materials and arms, or even use a bench or two which can be super practical if you need to push these away to create more space, or fit more little bottoms onto!
- Colour is a great way of injecting life into your living space, but bear in mind that trends change quickly. Use a classic colour such as red or green if you are sure you want colour, or just stick to a classic wood. Black however is a colour that never really goes out of fashion and will complement everything.
- How many people do you need to allow for? As a rule, people will comfortably need 60cm each, or 70cm if the chairs have arms. Use this measurement to make sure you can fit everyone that you want around your table.
- Dining Tables are large products. When you have decided on one, make sure that a home delivery option is available, as well as checking if you have to assemble the table yourself or this is also a service that the retailer offers.