An online gallery for one-of-one furniture
01 — The brief
A catalogue where most items exist once
Karakter's stock is a mix of genuine vintage pieces sourced overseas and restored here, reissued icons produced new by the likes of Herman Miller and Cherner, and contemporary modernist design.
A vintage Eames lounge chair with its own patina and a new production chair are listed side by side but behave differently: one is unique, high value and gone once sold, the other can be ordered again with a lead time.
The site had to hold both without confusing buyers, present each piece properly enough to justify the price, and let a customer filter by exactly the thing they care about, whether that is age, availability, designer or brand.
Furniture, accessories and inspiration The collection is split into furniture, accessories and inspiration, then broken down again into seating, tables, storage, lighting, art and homeware, each category filterable rather than paginated.
By the numbers
A gallery-scale catalogue
Feature
Every piece is treated as an individual object. Dimensions, materials, frame and finish options, product codes, design history and current lead times all sit on the page, with an enquiry rather than a checkout because most conversations involve options, freight or a wait.
- Prices in New Zealand dollars with an approximate US conversion
- Vintage and new filtered separately
- Availability filter so sold pieces do not waste a click
- Designer and brand indexes as their own browsable sections
- Related pieces suggested on every product
- Enquiry form attached to the specific item
Provenance sells the piece
Writing about design, not just listing it
At these prices, the story is part of the product.
The design journal, the designer index and the brand index give the collection its context, so a buyer understands why a 1956 lounge chair is still in production and what makes an original worth more than a reissue.
Those sections cross-link into the catalogue, which means an article about a designer leads directly to the pieces of theirs currently in the gallery.
02 — The process
How we got there
- 01
Understanding the stock model
Unique vintage pieces, reissues and new production all behave differently, so the product system was built around age, availability and lead time from the start.
- 02
Building the catalogue
Hundreds of records were structured with dimensions, materials, finish options, codes and imagery, each one editable by the Karakter team as stock turns over.
- 03
Filtering rather than paginating
Age and availability filters were built into every category so the collection stays browsable as it grows.
- 04
Editorial and indexes
The design journal, designer index and brand index were built as content sections that link back into live stock.
- 05
Hire, testimonials and support pages
Furniture hire, testimonials and FAQs were added as their own paths, each with the right enquiry attached.
A decade of sourcing, explained The about section covers why mid-century design is scarce in New Zealand and how Karakter sources, ships and restores each piece, which is the reassurance a first-time buyer needs.
03 — The outcome
A catalogue that keeps up with the stock
Unique pieces, reissues and new design all live in one system the team runs themselves.
Enquiries arrive against a specific piece, sold stock filters itself out of the way, and the design journal keeps giving buyers a reason to come back between arrivals.
Fuel built and develops the site; the visual design is by Britt Collard.
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