Flux Design - the work

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As You Like It: Custom Funiture Can Be a Perfect Match

…The typical custom furniture client [James P. Graton, custom interior designer] says, probably falls into at least one of three categories:

1. The customer has a specific need or a problem that needs to be solved. Matching a finish or style, sizing the piece to fit in a specific space, creating a special piece to stand out or serve as a focal point: all are examples of why some people choose custom furniture.

2. The customer is not in a hurry. From the initial discussion to the delivery of the final piece, the custom furniture furniture process can take months. That’s also the way to make sure adjustments can be made along the way so that the piece perfectly meets the customer’s needs.

3. The customer is not necessarily high-income, but does have an appreciation for quality. Custom furniture traditionally makes use of the finest materials and workmanship, neither of which come cheap. Garton says his prices are a step above ready-made furniture, but nat as expensive as one might image. Custom furniture businesses usually are run efficiently, without high rent, advertising and “middle-men” costs.

That’s the case for the furniture specialists at Flux Design, 326 N. Water Street in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward.

Catering to Needs

”Most of what we do is private, residential furniture,” says Jeremy Shamrowicz, a graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design who started the firm in 1999 with Jesse Meyer [sic].

Flux Design employs nine people. Shamrowicz holds degrees in industrial design and sculpture, and says his custom work combines both of those areas of interest.

“We want to specifically cater to someone’s needs, that’s the advantage of working one-on-one with a client,” he says. “We can make almost anything to fit in any environment in any color or any material. But we won’t use inferior products or craftsmanship. What we’re about is quality.”

Whereas Garton works primarily in woods such as cherry, walnut, mahogany, ash, maple and quarter-sawn white oak, Flux Design chooses some unusual materials for its designs: cements, resins, steel, granite, marble, glass and some woods.

“We love to mix as many media as possible,” says Shamrowicz, “but in a traditional, hand-built way.”

…Flux Design [sic] seems to be benefiting from both word of mouth and the growth of the Third Ward and Milwaukee’s love affair with loft living, which is compatible with Flux Design’s style of furniture.

“We work closely with people, from the very first meeting where we assess their needs to when we deliver and install it,” he says. “And they often come back for another piece and another.”

“People seem to have a closer attachment to a piece when they have had some input into how it was created. When it’s done, they can surround themselves with something that really, really reflects them.”

By Nancy A. Herrick
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 22 April 2001