Concept project
Houtwerk Vlas
A bespoke piece of furniture calls for a conversation, but nobody knows where that conversation begins.
Materiaalproef
Aanvraagroute
Maatlijn
Type
Website
Industry
Bespoke furniture maker
Year
2026
De ontwerpvraag
Wood judged from a distance
Houtwerk Vlas is a fictional furniture maker with eight pieces, from dining tables to kitchens. Anyone commissioning a piece wants to see how the grain runs and how large a tabletop really is. A grid of square images leaves little of that, and an empty form asks for words the visitor does not yet have.
The design question: without a price list, how can a visitor gain enough confidence to ask an initial question, and how can that enquiry arrive with wood species, dimensions and timeframe already included? That is what the design aims to do. What it would do with real visitors has not been measured.
The Zaanoever piece page: a large image, three lines for wood, dimensions and finish, and the guide price.
De keuzes
Scale is the argument here
01 · Dark ground, wood as light
The page sits on an almost black-brown ground, so the wood is the only thing that gives light. Text uses the colour of unbleached linen. The burnt brown returns only in buttons, lines and active states; where it has too little contrast on dark backgrounds, a lighter shade takes over.
02 · The piece takes half the page
The Zaanoever dining table fills the right half of the first screen, with wood, dimensions and finish as three lines below, plus a dimension line from a working drawing. That dimension line returns on every work card and the piece page.
03 · Work first, enquiry at the end
The homepage moves from the piece to wood species to the workshop, and ends with the question the visitor already has: do you know what it will cost? That is where the guide prices and Start your enquiry button sit.
04 · One question per screen, contact details last
The enquiry asks for wood species, dimensions and timeframe, and only asks for a name and email address in step four. Every step can be skipped, progress remains visible and the summary builds alongside it.
Wat de interactie laat zien
The same design, different wood
Every piece page includes a material sample. You choose a wood species and finish; the sample, colour, hardness, wood weight and guide price update with it. A vertical seam divides the sample into unfinished and finished wood, and you can drag it with a mouse, finger or arrow keys.
Rules from the craft inform the interaction: smoked is available only for oak, while soap is discouraged for walnut. Those options remain visible, struck through, with the reason shown. The caption states honestly that the finish is approximated on screen over the same photograph.
The material sample after clicking Walnut. Soaped and smoked are struck through, with the reason shown.
Measured result: none
Houtwerk Vlas does not exist. The concept has been developed as clickable pages in HTML, CSS and JavaScript and is not online. The enquiry ends with a demonstration message and sends nothing. No visitors or enquiries have been counted, so there is no result here. The furniture in the photos was made by others and its wood species has not been confirmed; prices and lead times are invented.
Image sources: Unsplash photos (furniture, workshop, wood samples), without brand names. Names, dimensions and prices are invented.
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