Bespoke Blinds
Bespoke blinds are designed around complex glazing which often requires innovation to cover large sizes or unusual shapes and applications. Technically advanced fabric shading systems conceal a torsion spring and a motor within the fabric barrel, allowing design of very wide and long blinds and unusual shapes or running directions, without compromising on the end result. With creative experimentation and precise engineering, almost any structure can be shaded.
From the beginning, bespoke blind design has been part of our DNA, in fact it’s where the business started. Back in 1981, our founder Richard Guthrie accepted a challenge to shade a 60ft long curved airport façade with a single piece of fabric. Our approach was, and still is, to be responsive to our customers‘ needs and vision.
Every project is unique, so we start by understanding the broader problems to be solved, and draw upon our teams‘ expertise in engineering, design and building physics to create shading systems that work seamlessly with their surroundings. The earlier the collaboration with the design team, the more possibilities there are for many key considerations.
Key considerations for bespoke blinds
- Concealment for invisibility when blinds are not in use
- Structural fixings & bracket positioning
- Fabric without seams or battens
- Maximum fabric coverage and blackout or dimout functions
- Controls functionality, wiring, and programming
Bespoke as standard
Over 40 years spent developing bespoke architectural blinds means we’ve built up a substantial library of ideas to call on for shading facades of all shapes, angles, sizes and configurations. Some of the products we have developed previously include:
- Curved blinds
- Blinds that deploy on an angle
- bottom-up blinds
- Very large blinds
- Shaped blinds, including triangles, trapezoids, unequal parallelograms, and arches
Engineering, not guesswork
Guthrie Douglas do not generally create ‚one-off‘ products, but seek to develop solutions that can be productionised and used again for future projects. This means that we will only design for manufacture with high quality materials such as injection mouldings or stainless steel cables. Visible nylon cords, ‚clock‘ springs, and fabric battens, are avoided wherever possible as they are unlikely to meet our performance and service life standards. We would prefer to say no to a project than to deliver something that we do not believe will stand the test of time.
Please browse some our bespoke design work below, or contact us for a consultation on your project.