Kathrin sought order in her kitchen chaos, and Brian Ng'aru crafted beautiful, tailored inserts for her drawers to elegantly organize her cutlery. What's your wish?
A request by Kathrin from Hamburg, Germany
Inserts for cutlery drawers, because everything is still crisscrossing.
The Journey of Creating custom made inserts for cutlery drawers
Negotiation & Planning
Hello Kathrin, I am happy to provide an offer for your idea. Thank you for the detailed sketches and explanation, I'll put a 1cm base and all the pieces 1cm thick. I can make it out of Cyprus wood which has a light brown color and finish it with linseed oil ( for food safety purposes) I believe we have all the necessary information to start the project.
Crafting Process
Artisan’s Progress Updates
Good morning, thank you for the confirmation on your project. Today I will get started with sourcing all the material I need and keep you updated with pictures and videos of my progress
Hi Brian,
I am looking forward to the cutlery boxes. Thank you so much for your message. I am very excited to see your beautiful work.
Many greetings
Kathrin (Automatic translation)
Good evening, so today I have been able to get started on the sanding, and cutting down the pieces to size. Tomorrow I'll be finishing on sanding and start on the joining. I have attached a couple of pictures and videos of today's progress
Hi Brian,
Sorry for responding only now. What all looks very promising already. Please keep up the good work.
Many greetings
Kathrin (Automatic translation)
Good morning, the trays are ready. I have attached a couple of pictures and videos looking forward to your feedback.
Very nice! Excellent! Thank you. (Automatic translation)
(Automatic translation) 22 Nov 2022 10:18 pm: Kathrin
(Automatic translation) 22 Nov 2022 10:18 pm: Kathrin
Very nice! Very good! Thank you very much! (Automatic translation)
Hello Brian,
so as discussed I send you new measurements so everything is even clearer. Thanks for redoing the cutlery boxes again.
Have a great Christmas!
Kathrin (Automatic translation)
Merry Christmas to you too. Looking forward to clarification on dimensions and feedback on the areas to work on to get it done right.
Hello Brian,
we had a nice Christmas, you too?
Did you get the new dimensions, I uploaded them 2 times already but not sure if that worked.
What else are you missing? I can't open the files with mp4.
Happy New Year!
Kathrin (Automatic translation)
Good morning, I did receive the new dimensions, I have noted that a couple of the dimensions have changed from the first sketches, should I work with these revised dimensions and include the 1cm thickness to your suggested dimensions or should I add it making each dimension 1cm thicker than what you have indicated?
Hi Brian,
the dimensions describe the overall size of the cutlery boxes. At the outer boundary, the material must not be added. The thickness of the material must not be added to the dimensions, but subtracted from the inner divisions. Outside dimensions must be 59 x 54.5 and no more.
Many greetings
Kathrin (Automatic translation)
Good evening, sorry for the late reply, seems there was a little technical difficulty in sending my response earlier.
So far I have gotten the material, cut the pieces to size, did the first sanding, and started attaching the bases. I have attached a couple of pictures to share progress.
Great, I'm looking forward to it. (Automatic translation)
Good evening, so far so good, first base is assembled and ready to get sanded, second base is clamped. I have attached a couple of pictures to share progress
🙂 Nice! (Automatic translation)
Good afternoon, second base ready as well. I've started working on sanding them. I have attached a video to show some of the progress made so far. So far so good. Do have a lovely weekend
Hello,
The surface is then surely still sanded smooth? It is still very rough.
Have a nice weekend! (Automatic translation)
Yes it will be sanded completely smooth just like the ones you received.
Perfect! (Automatic translation)
Good evening, I hope you had a good weekend. Today I was able to do more sanding of the bases and tomorrow I'll get started on the side pieces. I'll share pictures and videos tomorrow of progress so far
Yes, we had a nice weekend. Hopefully you did too. Thank you very much for your nice message! (Automatic translation)
Good evening, so far I have been able to cut, plane and sand the sides of the trays. Tomorrow I'll be cutting the pieces to accurate measurements and attaching them.
This looks very nice! (Automatic translation)
The pieces of the tray have been cut into size. I will join them using wooden dowels on Monday.
Thanks a lot for the info! (Automatic translation)
hello Kathrine, the trays are all joined, I will be doing some final sanding and finishing tomorrow then I can send pictures once they are finished.
Oh, I'm very excited about that. I am really looking forward to it.
Have a great Sunday! (Automatic translation)
Hello, Kathrin, the trays are ready for the first coat of linseed then I can do a second and third layer consecutively after each dry. I have attached a short video and pictures.
Great! Have a nice weekend! (Automatic translation)
Hello Kathrin, the trays are now ready for delivery, thank you for being patient. I hope the trays will full fill your idea. looking forward to realizing more ideas from you. have a great weekend.
Hi Brian,
the photos look very nice. i am very, very excited and look forward to having them in my hands soon.have a nice weekend! (Automatic translation)
Greetings Kathrin,
I received your product and would like to do the quality check together with you to avoid any inconveniences after shipment. So I have uploaded several photos especially of the notch area measurements on the top and the bottom side. The lengths are;
Tray without notch
A- 59cm
B- 54.5cm
C- 7.3cm
D- 54.3cm
E- 58.7cm
Tray with notch
F- 59cm
G-54.3cm
H-21cm
I-27.5cm
J-10.5cm
K-7.3cm
L-7.4cm
M-54.3cm
N-59cm
Kindly go through them and confirm whether they will fit in your drawer.
Regards,
Vicky.
I have compared all the measurements. Everything seems to be absolutely correct. It looks good!
I can't judge if there are any distortions or bulges though.
I have one question: why are there nails in some places and not others? Wouldn't the drawer hold without the nails? I would have liked it nicer without nails because I'm afraid they can rust or you can tear your hands. What happens when you remove the nails?
I hope that the gluing and this time the wooden slats will hold together. Last time there were large cracks between the slats when the product arrived. The glue had held but the wood warped. I'm looking forward to seeing the boxes.
Could you please answer the question about the nails before the boxes are shipped? Thanks! (Automatic translation)
Hello Katherine, thank you for forwarding your concerns, I did not use any nails, I used dowels which are pieces of wood which will hold the pieces firmer and they will not separate in any conditions. The dowels have been placed acordin to the design for enforcement, you need not worry. We also used completely dry wood so we guarantee that there will be no warping The product is fully made out of wood. I hope that addresses your queries
Thank you very much for the detailed answer. (Automatic translation)
The Finished Unique Piece – Individually Handmade
Reference: ON007689E-40383
Detailed Cost Breakdown
| Price | |
|---|---|
| Cost of material |
32.28
|
| Cost of labour |
33.6
|
| Cost of packaging |
2.65
|
| Cost of delivery to local operations manager |
10.61
|
| Subtotal – payout to artisan |
79.14
|
| Customer acquisition costs (advertising etc.) |
7.91
|
| Handling fee Urban Change Lab |
7.91
|
| Shipping costs from Kenya to Germany* |
20
|
| VAT (Germany)* |
18.04
|
| Total |
136.8
|
*Shipping costs and VAT vary depending on your location.
