First time I saw BDDW furniture in person was at a design showroom in Manhattan. I was there for something else entirely, but their console table stopped me cold. The proportions, the way the light hit the bronze hardware, the obvious quality of the wood – I stood there for probably ten minutes just looking at it.
Then I saw the price tag and nearly choked. But it got me thinking about what separates furniture at that level from what most of us make in our home shops.
Who Is BDDW Anyway?
BDDW is Tyler Hays company. Hes an artist who started building furniture in Philadelphia, and somewhere along the way built a business around it. Their stuff sits in that space between production furniture and pure one-off studio pieces. Each item is made to order, but theyre working from established designs rather than starting from scratch every time.
Their aesthetic is hard to pin down. Industrial meets organic, maybe? They use a lot of bronze and leather alongside the wood, which gives everything a weight and permanence that pure wood furniture sometimes lacks. Some pieces veer toward rustic, others feel almost modernist. What ties it together is the obvious care in execution.
What Theyre Doing Right
As someone who builds furniture for a living, I pay attention to what the high-end studios are doing. Not to copy – our price points are different – but to learn. Here is what I take away from looking at BDDW:
Material Combinations That Actually Work
Most furniture makers stick to wood. Maybe some upholstery on chairs. BDDW mixes in bronze, leather, stone, and steel in ways that feel intentional rather than gimmicky. That console table I mentioned? The bronze legs elevated what would have been a nice-but-ordinary walnut top into something special.
Ive started experimenting with this in my own work. Steel hairpin legs are overdone, but thoughtfully designed metal bases can complement wood beautifully. I recently built a coffee table with a blackened steel frame and a live-edge walnut top. The contrast between the industrial base and organic top creates visual tension that neither material would have on its own.
Scale and Proportion
BDDW furniture feels substantial without being clunky. Their dining tables are thick – really thick – but the proportions work. The legs are chunky but tapered at just the right angles. Nothing looks out of place.
This is harder to achieve than it sounds. Most of us either go too thin (looks cheap) or too thick (looks clumsy). Finding that sweet spot requires a good eye and a lot of prototyping. I keep a sketch book specifically for proportion studies, and I build mockups before committing to final dimensions on expensive lumber.
Finish Work
The finish on BDDW pieces is exceptional. Not flashy – you dont notice it the way you notice a piano-gloss finish. But run your hand across it and you feel the quality. The wood is clearly protected, but it still feels like wood, not plastic.
This probably takes them forever to achieve. Multiple coats of hand-rubbed oil, sanded between applications, built up over days. The kind of finish that most shops (including mine, honestly) skip because the client wont pay for the extra hours. But when you see it done right, you understand why it matters.
The Price Reality
Lets talk about the elephant in the room. BDDW furniture is expensive. That console table? Five figures. A dining table? Could be the price of a used car.
Is it worth it? Depends on your perspective.
For the buyer, youre getting something genuinely well-made that will last generations. Youre getting a coherent aesthetic from a recognized design studio. And frankly, youre paying for the label – which is fine if thats what you want.
For makers like me, it shows whats possible. It proves theres a market for high-end domestic furniture. And it sets a quality bar that I can aspire to even if I cant match their prices.
What I Apply to My Own Work
I cant compete with BDDW on brand recognition or price point. But studying their work has influenced mine in practical ways:
Taking More Time on Design
Before I saw their stuff, I was too quick to finalize designs. Now I sketch more, make more mockups, live with proportions before committing. My furniture has gotten better as a result. Less production-efficient, but better.
Investing in Material Quality
BDDW clearly doesnt cheap out on lumber. They use wide boards with character, properly dried and acclimated. I started being more selective about what I buy, and more patient about letting it sit before I use it. Costs more, but the results show.
Considering Hardware as Part of the Design
I used to grab whatever hinges or pulls were on hand. Now I think about hardware from the beginning. Sometimes I make custom hardware – a bronze pull that echoes the shape of a tables leg, for instance. Small details like this make a bigger difference than I expected.
The Limits of This Approach
Theres a point where chasing high-end aesthetics stops making sense for a small shop. BDDW has employees, specialized equipment, established supplier relationships. They can do things that would be impractical for a one-person operation.
I tried to bronze-plate some hardware last year, inspired by their work. The results were… not good. Some techniques require infrastructure that Im better off admiring from afar.
And sometimes clients just want a functional piece at a reasonable price. Not everyone needs or wants furniture at the BDDW level. Theres dignity in building solid, well-designed furniture for regular people too.
Worth Studying Even If You Never Buy
Next time youre near one of their showrooms (New York, Los Angeles), stop in. You dont have to buy anything. Just look. Pay attention to how they handle transitions between materials. Notice the weight of the drawer slides, the feel of the finishes, the way light plays across surfaces.
Then go back to your shop with fresh eyes. What could you do better? What techniques could you experiment with? What would your version of that aesthetic look like at your price point?
Thats what I did after seeing that console table. Im never going to build exactly what they build. But learning from the best makes my own work better. And honestly, getting a close look at furniture at that level is just inspiring. Reminds me why I got into this in the first place.
