About CustomMade

CustomMade is an online matchmaker connecting Buyers who want one-of-a-kind Creations with professional and passionate Makers.

What is Casework?

Posted by Pedro in Concepts & Buyer Guides, For Customers on October 21, 2011

If you’re doing your homework before you invest in custom furniture or custom made cabinetry, you may have encountered descriptions of sample pieces that specify who did the casework for the project, particularly if you’re looking at a home remodel where multiple artisans may have been involved.  Although you might not find the term “casework” [...]

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“I Know That My Quilts are Where They’re Supposed to Be.” Custom Memorials by Lori Mason Design

Posted by Pedro in For Customers, Maker Spotlight on October 20, 2011

October turning colder can certainly make you appreciate the warmth of a well-made quilt.  Passed down from generation to generation, quilts were both heirlooms and necessities in the past.  Today, some quilts are still treated as heirlooms though their warmth is more often than not symbolic.  For that, they are no less important, because the [...]

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Dramatic Custom Dandelion Necklace by Michelle Pajak-Reynolds

Posted by Marcie in For Customers, Our Favorite Custom Finds on October 18, 2011

To me this necklace looks like it’s made from freshly fallen snow! The light color palette creates a soft and gentle presence in a piece that is neither soft nor gentle.  Jewelry designer Michelle Pajak-Reynolds caters to sassy, sophisticated women who don’t mind making a dramatic entrance or standing out in a crowd. The Dandelion necklace [...]

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Multifaceted Benefits: Custom Jewelry Design and Customer Preferences

Posted by Pedro in For Makers, The Pro Shop on October 17, 2011

With the recession affecting both consumers and jewelry businesses, what are the advantages of a focus on customer preferences for custom jewelry artisans?

Writer Jonathan Devin of The Commercial Appeal found a custom jeweler in Memphis, TN, who has kept her business going at a brisk pace with “a little less bling” and more customer [...]

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Special Requests: Custom Jewelry Boxes

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on October 16, 2011

You’ve no doubt seen children having more fun with a box than with the gift it contained.  Maybe you even remember how much fun that was.  If you’re a grown-up and you’re looking for a gift box that can rival what’s inside, that’s a little more difficult.  Custom jewelry boxes by CustomMade artisans are your [...]

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Small Girl in a Big Coat (or Why I Switched to Custom Clothes and You Should, Too)

Posted by Pedro in Custom Inspiration, For Customers on October 14, 2011

Lisa Rosen, our guest blogger, retired from law firm life to take an in-house position at The Gold Standard Foundation, the premium certification standard for carbon offset projects.  She spends all of her free time on CustomMade’s website, dreaming of her next project.

Many years ago I confronted a harsh reality: people associate height with [...]

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Echoes in Wood: Custom Carving by Woodworking Studio

Posted by Pedro in For Customers, Maker Spotlight on October 13, 2011

What inspires an artisan to create a custom carved sculpture that is not just lifelike but has a sense of vitality in itself?  CustomMade woodworker Mark Yundt of Woodworking Studio has a special appreciation of wood’s capacity for life and transformation, which he shared in a story for The Morning Call newspaper by Kathy Lauer-Williams:

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“Made In America” on the Travel Channel Tonight. Made in America on CustomMade 24/7.

Posted by Pedro in For Customers, For Makers, The Wide World of Custom Making on October 11, 2011

Last week, a new TV series, “Made in America,” premiered on the Travel Channel.  This program showcases and celebrates goods that are still made in America in workshops, labs, and factories throughout the country.  Host George Motz travels across the nation to find out how “some of the most iconic products in the world are [...]

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“Metal Quilt”: Stunning Large-Scale Wall Art by Linda Leviton

Posted by Marcie in For Customers, Our Favorite Custom Finds on October 11, 2011

When you think of quilts you think cozy, soft, comfortable, something to wrap up in as you sip your hot toddy by the fire.  Well that’s not what sculptor Linda Leviton thinks about.  Linda makes custom made one-of-a-kind “metal quilts“ that have nothing to do with cotton and everything to do with copper, brass, stainless, and wood. [...]

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Custom Jewelry Strategies for Adjusting to the High Price of Gold

Posted by Pedro in For Makers, The Pro Shop on October 10, 2011

All that glitters is not gold.

Indeed.  Especially if gold jewelry acquired wholesale by merchants must then be retail priced so high for any hope of a return that customers are unwilling to purchase the pieces.

In a recent Los Angeles Times article, “Jewelers slammed by high gold prices,” Tiffany Hsu examines an unintended consequence [...]

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