Makersmith:
excellent product design - excellent service - custom manufacturing
About us
Makersmith’s aim is to be the UK’s most satisfying company; a place for businesses to come and create what they can’t buy off the shelf.
Gareth Davies, owner and managing director, founded the company in 2015 after a long career in manufacturing, design and design management across a wide range of diverse industries. He recognised a challenge for companies who don’t always have access to the technology and skills needed for design and manufacture, or need extra capacity. Makersmith offer design-led manufacture, turning often vague concepts into realistic, durable products, creating what can’t be purchased ‘off the shelf’.
Gareth’s unique ability to create practical, hands-on solutions to design problems faced by clients in varied industries has been a driving factor in the success of Makersmith. An Incorporated Engineer and a member of the Institute of Engineering Designers,
Gareth brings a combination of practical experience and professional expertise to Makersmith and all its projects.
Makersmith offers its clients a fully equipped, fully trained, highly experienced team, ready to design and manufacture. We thrive on delivering on time and budget to exacting specifications, and thinking in new ways to turn creative ideas into reality!
“....Gareth took on board all of the requirements stated in the brief, found solutions to potentially tricky design ideas and was extremely helpful and supportive throughout the whole process, which was impressively thorough....”
Scarborough Museums Trust Collections Manager
Values
Be creative
Makersmith encourages creative thinking and recognises this is what sets the company apart. A design-led business which encourages a culture of innovation within the business, which ultimately filters down to clients to create the ‘wow factor’.
Provide great service
Makersmith aim to provide exceptional levels of service and communication, including prompt response to enquiries/quotations, communicating clearly and openly, and exceeding expectations at all times.
Be engaging
Supporting clients through the practice of Kind Business, passing useful advice and information and building relationships, not transactions.
As well as providing exceptional products to their clients The Cast Iron Bath Company are creating clear and informative user manuals for all their products. To facilitate this they have used Makersmith to create a huge range of 3D models to allow their products to be shown in any orientation. In addition the product models can be shown installed or exploded to provide illustrations for parts manuals. This approach gives the Cast Iron Bath Company documents an outstanding level of detail and clarity which contributes to ease of use, installation and repair and which, in turn, leads to increased customer satisfaction.
Star Carr is one of the most important Early Middle Stone Age sites ever found and it is located just a few miles south of Scarborough. A new permanent display at The Rotunda Museum showcases objects from Star Carr; the first time for many years that items from Scarborough’s Star Carr collection have been on display. In planning for this new display, the Trust needed Makersmith’s help with a number of challenges:
- Assembling and displaying a range of precious objects to allow maximum visibility to visitors.
- Mounting the objects securely without ruining the aesthetic of the display.
- Achieving the above within a small space, using a curved display case within an historic building.
Makersmith designed and manufactured special mounts for the artefacts, taking the museum brief and using Gareth’s creative experience to suggest a range of design ideas, including use of transparent acrylic for the mounts (to reduce visibility) and manufacturing expertise with the laser cutter to produce mounts for the otherwise difficult monoliths.
Makersmith produced a prototype for testing, to enable Scarborough Museums Trust to assess the suitability of the mounts in practice. The finished products were then manufactured to required specifications, on time and within budget.
The Trust have additionally used Makersmith’s services to design and produce a mount for a Wilfred Owen bust. Working to very tight timescales, Makersmith produced a mount which was secure, aesthetically pleasing and avoided potential damage to the object on display.
Jennifer Dunne, Collections Manager at Scarborough Museums Trust: “We use Makersmith for any tricky challenge which might seem unsurmountable, and they have always alleviated any of our concerns and done a great job. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Makersmith.”
As part of Has Bean Coffee’s involvement in the wider specialty coffee industry, the company have long been involved in coffee competitions, including the UK and World barista championships. These competitions involve presenting engaging and novel drink and service experiences for judges which occasionally lead to needs for bespoke service-ware or materials.
Over the last few years Has Bean Coffee have chosen to use custom bar tops (in wood or Perspex) to be part of the experience, allowing them to communicate ideas more clearly and stand out from the crowd.
In each case Gareth and Makersmith have been able to refine designs and produce the final items, bringing a higher production quality, a better looking final piece and allowing Has Bean Coffee to focus on other elements knowing the project is in good hands.
Dale Harris, Director of Wholesale, Has Bean Coffee: “Makersmith took on delivering exactly what we had envisioned, beyond what we believed was physically possible, allowed us to present at the highest level, and ultimately played a part in us winning the World Championships.”
“Gareth worked with us to best understand our needs, then proposed materials or methods that we wouldn’t have considered, but that lowered cost, increased strength, quality and aesthetics and the produced the items to incredibly tight timelines.” Makersmith were initially selected by Has Bean Coffee on their ability to deliver high quality projects in tight timescales. After having once worked with Gareth and having such a positive experience, Makersmith soon became the supplier of choice for additional projects – “each time the approach and final product has been exemplary.”
Has Bean Coffee now recommend Makersmith to all their Wholesale clients for their product design/manufacturing needs.
"Gareth’s depth of knowledge and expertise in product development and 3D modelling, gave us the opportunity to take 2D sketched ideas through progressive stages of 3D CAD modelling. In so doing, we avoided numerous financial costs and unnecessary delays in launching our range of tapware. …. Gareth’s ability to understand our challenges and communicate his ideas clearly made the whole process much easier than we expected."
Lee Hunwicks - Founder of The Cast Iron Bath Company
"Makersmith is one of our most trusted suppliers, not only in terms of level of service, but also for genuine interest in helping us create the best products for our customers."
Clara Asmussen - Blue Phoenix
"Makersmith took on delivering exactly what we had envisioned, beyond what we believed was physically possible, allowed us to present at the highest level, and ultimately played a part in us winning the World Barista Championships. Makersmith were initially selected by Has Bean Coffee on their ability to deliver high quality projects in tight timescales. After having once worked with Gareth and having such a positive experience, Makersmith soon became the supplier of choice for additional projects - "each time the approach and final product has been exemplary." Has Bean Coffee now recommend Makersmith to all their Wholesale clients for their product design/manufacturing needs. "
Dale Harris - Director of Wholesale, Has Bean Coffee
View our Design Management Consultancy page here.