FF&E Sourcing &
Production Management
Connecting North American design teams to Central American manufacturers.
FF&E Sourcing &
On-the-ground, not remote guesswork
Design and production speak different languages. Design teams optimize for aesthetics and function. Production teams optimize for repeatability, speed, and cost. Without someone who speaks both, the gap between them fills with assumptions, and assumptions become errors, cost overruns, and redesigns.
I work in that gap, on the ground in Central America. My network spans Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, from small artisan workshops to large factories shipping multiple containers a month for hospitality projects. That range means matching the right maker to the piece, not forcing every project through the same shop.
The work starts before a single part gets cut. I handle product development, shop drawings, and production engineering, translating design intent into something a factory can actually build. Then I stay on the ground through prototyping, quality control, and shipping.
A few recent projects include leading a $500K hotel furniture project (600+ pieces, Nicaragua to Atlanta), a $350K residential furniture and millwork project in the Hamptons, and a custom studio build for a Grammy-winning producer in Toronto. Different clients, different scales, same process: close the distance between what was designed and what can actually be built, without compromising the intent behind either.
This is for you if you're...
Specifying Custom Furniture or Millwork
You have strong vendor relationships, but limited coverage in Central America. I plug into your process as an on-the-ground resource for this specific region, so a gap in your network doesn’t turn into a gap in the client’s project.
Running an FF&E or Procurement Firm
A paid working session focused on one specific design-to-production challenge you’re facing right now. We look at a drawing, a BOM, a material decision, or a production constraint together and I give you my honest technical assessment. You leave with clarity and concrete next steps regardless of whether we work together further.
Need Shop Drawings or DFM Support
You want production engineering handled properly, regardless of where the piece is built. I prepare shop drawings and review designs for manufacturability, working remotely and coordinating directly with whichever fabricator you’re using.
About Mike
I started as a CNC programmer and fabricator, receiving drawings, interpreting intent, and figuring out how to build what designers imagined.
Later I led design and engineering teams, developing products from concept through prototype and into production. Along the way I managed $1M+ in custom furniture and millwork projects across North America, built and scaled a CNC department from a single machine to a multi-shift operation, and launched Sonoforma, a teak furniture brand built in Nicaragua that has been featured in Wallpaper, Design Milk, and Contemporist.
That path, from the factory floor to the drawing board and back, is what makes this work possible. I understand what designers are trying to protect and what production teams are trying to avoid. My job is to make sure both sides win before anything gets built.
I’m Canadian, based in Nicaragua, working on the ground with manufacturers across Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and remotely on product development and shop drawings for clients across North America.
