Bespoke, made to measure or custom: what the words mean in furniture

Bespoke: designed for you, from the beginning

The word comes from tailoring. On London’s Savile Row, cloth was said to be “bespoken” when a customer had reserved it for a garment to be cut to their own pattern. In furniture, bespoke means the same thing: a piece designed for one client and one room, from a blank page.

A bespoke commission starts with a conversation and a brief — the space, the use, the people, the budget — and moves through sketches and drawings to a design the client approves. Only then is it made. It is the most freedom you can buy, and the most time: the design stage comes before production begins.

In British English, “bespoke furniture” is the common term. In American English, the same thing is usually called custom.

Made to measure: an existing design, adjusted

Made to measure takes a design that already exists and changes its dimensions to fit. A dining table in a longer length, a desk a few centimetres deeper, a bed for a non-standard mattress. The form, the construction and the details are already resolved; only the measurements move.

Because the design is known, made to measure is faster and more predictable than bespoke. The maker can usually tell you quickly whether the change works — a table cannot be lengthened indefinitely without its proportions or its structure suffering — and what it does to the price.

Made to order: built after you buy

Made to order says nothing about the design and everything about the timing. The piece is a standard design in a standard size, but it is not taken from a warehouse: it is built after you place the order, often with a choice of finish or upholstery.

That is how our collection works. Every ALUR piece — from the Dining Table to the Bed — is made by hand in our atelier in Bali after your order, in solid wood (mostly teak), in the finish you choose. It takes about six weeks, plus shipping. Made to order is why there is no stock to clear, and why the piece you receive is new.

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  004

  Dining Table

  From €6,900

  View the piece→
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  009

  Bed

  From €9,900

  View the piece→

Custom: the umbrella term

Custom is the widest of the four, and the least precise. It can mean any of the above: a finish chosen from a list, a changed size, or a design from scratch. In American English it is the everyday word for what the British call bespoke. When a maker says custom, it is always worth asking: what exactly can change?

We use “custom made” for anything that departs from the collection — a different size, a different finish, or a new piece. How that works, from first call to finished piece, is on custom made.

Which one do you need?

A simple way to decide is to start from the room, not the word.

• —A collection piece fits as it is, and you want to choose the finish: made to order.
• —You like a design, but the length or depth does not suit your space: made to measure.
• —The room, the use or the idea is unusual enough that nothing existing will do: bespoke, or custom in American English.

What it means for price, time and returns

Price follows freedom. Made to order is priced per piece, because the design exists — our collection starts at €1,150 and runs to €9,900, including VAT; shipping extra. Made to measure is quoted from the existing piece plus the change. Bespoke carries the design hours on top of the making, and is quoted per project. Our article on what custom furniture costs goes into the detail.

Time follows the same order. A made-to-order piece is built in a known period. A bespoke piece adds a design stage before production, and its length depends on how many rounds of drawings it takes.

Returns are where the terms have legal weight. In the European Union, consumers who buy at a distance generally have fourteen days to withdraw — but the law makes an exception for goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised. A bespoke or made-to-measure piece will normally fall under that exception. We say it plainly: custom pieces cannot be returned on a change of mind (your rights if a piece is defective remain). Standard pieces bought online are a different case: at ALUR, collection pieces in a standard size and finish come with the fourteen-day right of withdrawal, even though we make them after you order.