Custom & OEM casting
Your design, our furnace — OEM and private-label bronze casting
Send a drawing, a 3D file or a sample. We cast a sample for approval, put your mark in the base, pack it in your carton, and keep the pattern on the shelf for your repeat orders. A private pattern is never cast for another buyer.
- Input
- Drawing · 3D file · physical sample
- Sample
- Cast to drawing before production
- Marking
- Cast into the base, not stamped
- Tooling
- Retained for your account
- Lead time
- 21–30 days plus finishing
How a custom programme runs
Six steps, and what each one costs you in time
- Brief. Drawing, 3D file, sample or photographs, plus the finish, the marking and the quantity you have in mind. A day or two of questions from us.
- Quotation. Unit price at the quantity quoted, sample cost, tooling time, estimated cast weight and packing. Two working days.
- Pattern. Made from your file or modelled from your sample; photographs sent for approval before any metal is poured.
- Sample casting. One piece, finished as the production will be, shipped to you by air. Sample cost is credited against the first production order.
- Production. 21–30 days casting plus finishing; photographs at the fettling and patina stages.
- Repeat orders. Cast from the retained pattern, so the second run matches the first without a new sample round.
Marking and packaging
What makes it your product rather than ours
- Cast-in mark. Your logo or wordmark is cut into the pattern, so it is part of the casting. Supply vector artwork; small text needs a minimum stroke width, and we will tell you what it is for your piece.
- Edition or batch numbers. Stamped after casting where each piece needs a unique number.
- Retail packaging. Your printed carton, insert card and care leaflet, packed at the workshop so the piece arrives ready for your shelf.
- Barcode labels. Applied to cartons to your specification for warehouse intake.
Where the money goes
Honest economics of a custom casting
Two costs dominate: the pattern, which is a one-off, and the hand finishing, which recurs on every piece. Volume spreads the first and barely touches the second — so a design that needs three hours of chasing will not become cheap at a thousand pieces. If you are working to a landed price, tell us the target early and we will say which features to simplify rather than quietly thin the metal.
We will not reduce wall thickness below specification to hit a price. It is the one place where a saving is invisible on the invoice and obvious in the customer's hand.
Questions on this line
Before you order
Who owns the tooling?
The pattern made for your design stays with your account and is not used for another buyer. We keep it at the workshop so repeat orders do not pay for it twice; if you want it shipped to you, say so and we will quote.
Will you sign an NDA?
Yes. Send yours with the brief, or ask for ours.
What is the minimum for a custom piece?
Lower than most buyers expect, because the pattern is the main fixed cost rather than a steel mould. A first run of a few dozen pieces is workable for many forms — send the design and we will tell you where the economics start to make sense.
Can you match a competitor's piece we are already buying?
We can cast to your own design or your own sample. We do not copy another maker's protected design, and we will tell you if that is what the request amounts to.