Project Case

Order shapes

Four kinds of order, and the parameter that decides each one

We do not publish client names. Everything on this page describes the shape of the order and the numbers behind it: how many figures, in what poses, on what base, in what time. That is the part a buyer can actually compare against their own brief.

Each of the four below turns on one decision that, if you get it wrong at the start, cannot be fixed later. Those decisions are named.

Table 1 — The four order shapes at a glance
Order shape	Typical volume	The decision that decides it
Multi-store rollout	40–60 doors × 4–6 figures	One neck fitting and one base across the whole range, fixed before the first mould is cut
Single boutique, custom pose	4–10 figures, one pose	The one dimension the floor fixes — usually seat height or window base height
Seasonal OEM for an agency	20–40 figures, one shipment	The install date, worked backwards through production and sea freight
Kids range	3 ages × 3–4 poses	Whether the proportions come from child anthropometry or from scaling the adult body

01 · Multi-store retail

Forty doors, one specification

A chain moving into a new store format needs the same six poses in every location. Ordered store by store, the fourth city never quite matches the first, and nobody can tell whether it is the paint, the light or the pose. Ordered as one brief, the constraint moves from the figure to the fittings.

A row of identical matte white mannequins in the same pose inside a distribution warehouse — One spec, forty locations: the poses are identical, the fittings are interchangeable, and a damaged arm in one city is a spare part rather than a new order.

Table 2 — Typical parameters for a rollout of this size
Order	40–60 stores × 4–6 figures, released in 3–4 batches
Figures	Four standing, one seated, one three-quarter turn; headless with neck cap
Material	FRP, adult female
Finish	Matte bone white, one batch colour approved on a sprayed panel
Bases	Round iron disc, identical across all units
Lead time	3–4 weeks production per batch, plus 4–6 weeks sea freight
Packing	0.2 CBM per unit, 114 × 44 × 38 cm, body split from base

What makes it work is deciding the fittings before tooling: one neck socket, one base thread, one paint specification across the range. After that, a store can reorder a single arm. The fourth batch can match the first without a second colour approval, which is the cost nobody budgets for on a rollout.

02 · Single store

A pose cut from a photograph

A boutique wants the figure from a magazine spread — seated, one arm across the knee, head turned. Catalogue seated poses read too formal for a small floor. The order is small enough that the tooling has to be justified by the pose alone, so the pose has to be settled before anything is cut.

A seated white mannequin with one arm across the knee in a small boutique window — A custom pose is a moulding decision, not a styling decision. It is confirmed at quarter scale before the tool is committed.

Table 3 — Typical parameters for a single-store custom pose
Order	4–10 figures, one pose
Figures	One custom seated pose, headless, neck cap finished to the same standard as a catalogue figure
Material	FRP
Finish	Warm white, satin
Bases	Low timber block, height set by the window base
Lead time	About 3 weeks for the pose sample, then 2 weeks production
Packing	Individual timber crate, non-standard dimensions

The pose is modelled from two photographs plus one dimension we insist on: the height the figure will actually sit at, because the window base is fixed and a centimetre there changes the whole silhouette. A quarter-scale 3D print settles the proportion question before the mould is committed. Skipping that step is what makes small custom orders go wrong.

03 · Seasonal OEM

Thirty figures, one install date

A display agency builds a Christmas campaign for a department store. They specify the finish and the date; the figures, the packing and the container are ours. They never handle the product, which means the only failure they can absorb is a missed install date — so the date is the brief.

Four gold-finished mannequins standing in a row against a dark backdrop — Metallic finishes are matched on a sprayed panel, not to a screen reference. That single approval step is why thirty figures read as one set under the store's own lighting.

Table 4 — Typical parameters for a seasonal OEM order
Order	20–40 figures, single shipment
Figures	Standing, mixed male and female, headless
Material	FRP
Finish	Metallic gold, approved as a sprayed panel against the store's own sample
Bases	Round iron disc, black
Lead time	4 weeks production, dated backwards from the install, not from the order
Packing	Full container, 40HQ, bases crated separately

Metallic and gloss finishes are matched within a tolerance, by eye, on a physical panel. A hex code will not do it: the same gold reads warm under a 3000K spotlight and green under a cool one. Approving the panel under the store's own lighting is the step that stops thirty figures from arriving as three slightly different colours.

04 · Kids range

Three ages, one family

A back-to-school window needs children at three ages that still read as one group on the floor. Child figures are where proportion goes wrong most often, because the quickest route — scaling the adult body down — produces small adults rather than children.

Three child mannequins of different ages standing side by side in school uniform — Three ages modelled from child anthropometry, not scaled from the adult range. The eight-year-old is not a shrunken twelve.

Table 5 — Typical parameters for a kids range
Order	3 ages × 3–4 poses
Figures	Roughly 5, 8 and 12 years; headless with neck cap
Material	FRP; articulated wooden arms available on any figure in the set
Finish	Matte white or matched skin tone
Bases	Low plinth for the smallest, so the three read at one eye level
Lead time	3 weeks, three ages in one batch
Packing	Cartons split by age, not by pose

Head-to-body ratio is the whole difference: a child at five carries a much larger head relative to the body than one at twelve, and the shoulder-to-hip ratio changes with it. Modelling the three ages from child anthropometric data rather than scaling one body is what keeps the group looking like siblings instead of a size run.

What we need from you

Four things, and we can quote

We quote against a mould position, not a catalogue price, so the first reply needs enough to place the order on a specific tool. Four items get there:

Pose and quantityStanding, seated or a custom pose, and how many per location. A photograph of the pose is more useful than a description.
The fixed dimensionWindow base height, ceiling height, plinth height — whatever the floor plan has already decided. This is the number that constrains everything else.
FinishA physical sample if you have one, or the reference brand and material. Matte, satin and gloss read differently under retail lighting, and metallic cannot be specified by code.
Deadline and destinationThe date the figures have to be standing in the window, and the port. We work backwards from the install date, not from the order date.

Send a brief, get a mould-based quote

Pose, quantity per store, the fixed dimension from the floor plan, and the date it has to be installed. We will come back with the tool position, the lead time against your date, and which parts are worth holding as spares.

Send your brief How they are made