Y(our) Design Process
The custom furniture world sure can be a daunting one. Our goal at Focal Fabrication is to make it approachable, enjoyable, and even educational (if you want).
After all, you’re not coming to us because you want that impersonal online shopping transaction. We enjoy sharing our experience in this world and want to include you every step of the way.
We value the relationships with all of our customers and encourage open conversation about the process from pen and paper to delivery. We’re not here to “tell you how it is.” We offer solutions, options, and transparency in our design and build process and want you to feel like your along with us in the shop.
Our Home
Focal is nestled deep in Seattle’s historic industrial district. SODO, to the locals, is home to countless manufacturers, creatives, and builders as well as their warehouses. These old Seattle relics have witnessed over a century of hard work, innovation, and creation.
Our home is no different. While it may not be the shop ready for it’s social media photoshoot, it’s a place full of character, inspiration, and the energy of those who were building here long before us.
Our doors are open to all who want to come see this unique part of our city’s history
We Love to Design and Build Things!
To keep it simple, Focal Fabrication is a Seattle based, furniture design and build business. Here is the short list of the services that we offer.
Full Woodworking Shop
3D Modeling and Visualization
Design Consultation
Welding and Metal Fabrication
3D Printing
A Fully Transparent and Communicative Experience!
About Alex
I’ve always been drawn to shops where the tools tell a story, the smell bring back memories, and the work being done overflows with passion.
Because of this, I’ve spent my entire life either pestering those who build or working in shops myself. My early years building wooden ramps in the driveway led me to a high school career in the bike shop. Dirty hands, the smell of tires, and the satisfaction of giving new life to old equipment had got me even more excited to work with my hands.
My time in college was spent wrenching on cars and bikes, night classes at the nearby technical college, and a lot of classes working to convince me that a career behind a screen was best.
However, after graduation, an unlikely pivot to the world of precision metal machining opened my mind to a wide array of manufacturing techniques in a trade focused on tight dimensions and computer programmed equipment. After over a decade machining parts for the aerospace, medical, and high tech industries, I found myself looking for a more creative outlet not bound by tight tolerance drawings, rigorous inspection, and endless hours of machine programming.
This outlet came in the form of furniture design and fabrication. The freedom and fluidity of the design process was a welcome change from the machine shop floor. After a few years I found myself spending more time designing and building furniture both for my own home as well as a select few clients. This was the starting point of Focal Fabrication. A fusion of my love for diverse design, creative problem solving, alternative building, and limitless opportunities.
