• adjective Brit. (of goods) made to order

I have noticed that in the shutter industry the terms ‘custom made’ ‘bespoke’ ‘premium’  ‘top grade’ and even ‘finest quality’ are used with abandon and seemingly often without qualification.

A plethora of shutter companies have entered the UK market over the last few years. With such a bewildering amount of companies to choose from how on earth does one know the provenance of their shutters?  And more importantly, during this economic downturn can you afford to be choosy?

There are in essence three types of shutter company; firstly are those who offer shutters that are manufactured in China. These shutters are assembled using stock materials that are made from pre-sized components. Each shutter is made to a customers own height and width depending on the application. It would be justified to call the shutters custom made but to call them bespoke is suggesting the components used are made specifically for each customer to a specific size.

These companies offer shutters made from a variety of different materials such as MDF, Craft wood, Tulip wood and Basswood.  All of which may be laminated or finger jointed, or a combination of both. They are heavily painted so each is indistinguishable from the other. They may also offer stained woods which are trying to imitate woods such as Oak or Walnut. In my opinion it would be misleading to describe any of these materials as premium, finest quality or even top grade woods.

Secondly, there are a small number of companies offering shutters that they claim are manufactured in the UK. This could be construed as misleading as they actually import manufactured stock material from Spain or China that is used in the shutters. As above, they assemble shutters from stock finger jointed or laminated material that is pre-sized and does not allow for any degree of bespoke manufacturing.

Thirdly, there are very few companies who manufacture all their own components and assemble their shutters using their own material. The New England Shutter Company is such a company.
Only by manufacturing every part of the shutter in-house can it be made to suit any desired size and thus become truly bespoke. This is not to say stock material is not used, it is, but sometimes specific stiles, rails or frames are required. The New England Shutter Company does not use finger jointed or laminated material in any parts of its shutters and only buys top grade timber from timber suppliers who source from environmentally responsible and reputable companies.

I do hope you will take a look at these pictures I took last time I was at our factory. Our guys work very hard and are all very skilled in their trade; making beautiful shutters that will stand the test of time.

Thank you for your interest.

Nick Garratt