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The Design Shoji Difference
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"There's not much to a shoji panel. How can there be such a difference in cost?" Great question! Yes, when judged only by a photograph only, all shoji look alike. Basic frame, rectangular squares, some sort of white insert and sliding track. Simple, right? Well, it's very similar to a car. Is there a difference in the performance of a BMW vs. a Yugo? I hope so! Never having owned either, I can't tell you for certain, but I can tell you what makes Design Shoji panels unique. Premium woods. An exotic hardwood shoji panel is much harder, more stable and more durable than any other wood available. On the Janka hardness scale, which measures the hardness of wood flooring, exotics top the list for resisting dings, dents, scratches, gouges, chips, and wear marks in general. They are incredibly hard. Does this make them much more difficult to work with for the "no nails" construction of a shoji panel? Definitely, but our philosophy is that if we are going to go to the trouble of making a "just planed" finish, we'd like it to stay that nice for the lifetime of the door. Also, when you pick up a Design Shoji door made with an exotic hardwood, it's surprising how heavy it is. The wood is that much denser; it gives you an idea of the extra effort required to work these amazing woods. Quality Inserts. We do not cut corners on inserts. Our laminated inserts use a core that is thicker than similar appearing inserts. Why do we do this? To give you a truly puncture-resistant, non-rippling insert. Nothing looks worse than a shoji panel with a baggy or torn insert. We offer you insert choices based on the anticipated usage of your doors, eg. commercial grade inserts will withstand anything the public or cleaning staff can dish out without losing their taut, crisp look. Precise joinery. Here is where the foundation of your door is laid. If the individual members of your shoji are not flat, square and true, and assembled to stay that way, you will find your shoji binding or jamming in the track sooner rather than later. You'll get slivers as you dust the grid, or gaps opening up in your grid joints. With softer woods you are more likely to get grid breakage or damage than with exotics. Because of their inherent strength, exotics also allow you more freedom to design more open or intricate grid patterns, and get away from the basic rectangles so commonly seen. Fit and finish. Here is where a photograph is not worth a 1000 words. You can't tell the real fit and finish of a product. For that, you need to touch the product and "kick the tires," so to speak. Seriously considering our work? Our shop will "memo" you a small sample panel so you can actually see and feel the "Design Shoji difference." From hand-sanded individual grids with eased edges, to the meticulous furniture quality finishes we apply, our award-winning shoji are very distinctive. In fact, each one is numbered and stamped on the bottom so we can find the original shop drawings of every door we have built. This allows us to match that shoji perfectly should you need more later. Exclusive construction features. A number of innovations go into how our doors are built that may not be obvious but will make a big difference over time. We put expansion joints in our frames to keep them gap-free no matter what climate our doors travel to. Eased edges on every surface means no flaking or slivering. Grids are always 2-sided for maximum panel strength and versatility. Hipboards are set at any custom height to for perfect alignment with your interior -- for example, in our office the hipboards match our countertop height. Routed hand pulls. Interpanel butt and spline detail. Concealed hardware. Multiple hand sanding and planing for an unparalleled finish throughout, even on each grid member. What does it all mean? Quality materials, and countless hours go into a Design Shoji panel. A little bit of us goes into each shoji we build. We are not a big factory nor an import shop. We are just concentrate on quality craftsmanship, one shoji at a time, "What can we build for you?" This may not be obvious from a simple photograph. But we hope as you browse through our website, review our list of who we work for and where our panels go, you'll get a better idea of how our shoji are different. At Design Shoji, working out creative design solutions for you is our passion. Tell us what you're looking for; we're here to help! |
DESIGN SHOJI 3000 King Ranch Road, Ukiah,
CA 95482
Ph: 707/ 485-5550 FAX: 707/ 485-5559
Email: info@designshoji.com Blog:designshojiukiah.com
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