Thanks for the suggestion, our friends had some bad experience with buying and shipping, ended in tears! But oh how I would love to just buy half of Wesley-Barrell on Regent Str and Multiyork in The Beehive Centre and brings everything here !
Look for a Moebelschreiner whose preferred style comes close what you want. No sense in trying to get someone to create a piece in a style unfamiliar here, especially when language barriers could lead to misinterpretation.
Most furniture makers will have pieces on display. Go to the show- or workroom, ask for a tour. Look at the furniture, look at how it is constructed, especially the joints, see how his pieces 'feel'.
But yes - pictures, diagrams, examples are a must. Even when there is no language barrier.
A quick update: just a few days after posting and mentioning exactly what piece of furniture I was keen on, the number of articles in stock for that sofa went drastically down - from 17 in stock before posting (the same number for the last two months), to only 3 four days later when I actually bought it... Which means there will be lots of people in Switzerland with identical sofas - or just another statistical glitch...
We have bought both shelves and an armchair from Maison Du Monde in Dietlikon. The armchair we collected and we have been happy with the quality. The shelves were delivered from France (although ordered on the Swiss website) by TNT and rearranging delivery when we had been out the first time they tried was fairly straightforward. The shelves involved a limited amount of assembly and were reasonably well made.
I'm thinking of buying some balcony furniture and a sofa from Maisons du monde online. It seems they have stores in Switzerland and they have a CH site, but as they are a French store I'm wondering where the furniture will be shipped from?
I just want to avoid being unknowingly stung by customs charges at the border, there is no information on the website about this.
Has anyone got experience ordering online for delivery in Switzerland since they opened branches here?
If you buy from a Swiss store the price quote wil lbe what you pay, unless it is clearly indicated otherwise. Where the store imports from is thier problem, not yours in this case.
The price quoted to you will be TTC (Tout Taxes Compris) All Taxes Included.
We've been v happy with all the stuff we've bought from MdM in the past - but not bought any big items. We recently bought a couple of sofas from an expat couple here in Switzerland - v decent quality for CHF300 for both. Check out the second hand forum on FaceBook just in case your dream sofa is there....
Did you order from the Swiss site in the end? I want to do the same but have no idea if they still ship from France so I can't figure out if I will be liable for customs charges on delivery!
The point is that you're ordering from within CH from a.ch website and therefore a Swiss business, so you don't need to be worried about how they get it there.