Craft at Work with Jason Dolores
Before a specifier selects a product. Before a builder places an order. Before a homeowner commits to a finish they'll live with for decades, there's a sample.
It arrives in a box. Someone picks it up, turns it over, runs a hand across the surface. That moment — at a kitchen bench or a studio desk — is often the first real contact with us. We don't take it lightly.
Every sample that leaves our warehouse is packed by Jason Dolores.
Jason is our Samples Coordinator, aka the person behind every order that lands on a designer's desk, a builder's workbench, or a homeowner's doorstep. Between 75 and 100 requests move through his hands each week, the majority being our architect and designer sets, each holding around 25 individually selected samples.
None arrive off a shelf. "Our customers pick and choose what they want in their sample pack," Jason says. "There are no premade packs available." Every order is built from scratch, to spec, for the person who requested it.
Before a sample is packed, it's cut. Jason sizes each piece by hand using blades that are resharpened regularly and replaced on a fortnightly cycle — sooner if the work demands it.
It's a detail most recipients would never consider. But the edge of a timber sample is the first cross-section of the product a customer sees — its construction, layering, and quality readable before a word on the label has been noticed. Is Jason conscious of that when he’s at the saw? "Absolutely!," he says. “There’s a lot of care that goes into those cuts.”
Jason's day covers three things: packing incoming requests, restocking the warehouse pick bins, and labelling each sample so it arrives clearly identified. What does getting it right look like? It starts before the packing does. "Having sample stock available, ready to go," he says. Preparation is the process.
Working with the range daily, Jason has built a familiarity with the product that goes well beyond the spec sheet. What still surprises him? "The size of the product range and the colours available." Our range runs deeper than most people expect, and Jason knows all of it.
For 40 years, this is how we've operated — not because it's the easiest way, but because the standard applied to a sample pack is the same standard applied to technical support, specification assistance, and project follow-through.
The small sample in your hand — cut to size, selected to order, packed by hand — has been given a huge amount of attention.
Because it’s where the story of your new space begins.
Request your samples
Samples are available across our entire product range and are free to order. We dispatch thousands every year, each one within 24 hours of the request being placed.
Order online at Wood Samples | Forté or if you'd prefer to see the range in person, visit one of our experience centres where samples can be browsed and taken away on the day.