Made to order in the Atelier
Commissions
The house accepts a small number of commissions each year for clocks, singing birds and mechanical animals that are not autonomous and do not resemble a person. In 2025 it finished forty-three.
What the house makes to order
- Singing birds, alone or in pairs, in cages, lanterns or boxes, with songs taken by ear from living birds.
- Clocks, from carriage clocks to long-case clocks, often with a small automaton that marks the hour.
- Small mechanical animals: a sleeping cat, a hare, a heron in a reed bed. Each is a made thing, declared as such on its certificate.
What it declines
The house does not accept commissions for figures of any kind, and has not since December 2024. It does not make likenesses of particular people, and it does not make likenesses of particular animals that have died, though it is asked to do so several times a year and answers each request by letter. It does not make anything that decides for itself what to do, and so it does not make anything that would need a license from the Turing Registry.
How a commission proceeds
- A letter. Write to house@rosenassociation.org describing what you have in mind. The Master of the Atelier reads every letter and replies to say whether the house can make it.
- A conversation. At the House or the Zürich Salon, with the maker who would lead the work.
- A drawing and an estimate. The Atelier draws the piece and estimates its cost and its time. Nothing is charged for either.
- The making. On agreement, a deposit of thirty percent is paid and the piece is begun. The keeper may visit the bench by appointment.
- The stranger’s week, the certificate and delivery. The piece leaves with its certificate of provenance and is serviced by the house for life without charge.
Time and cost
| Kind | Finished | Typical time | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singing birds | 22 | 9 to 14 months | $18,500 |
| Clocks | 14 | 12 to 30 months | $46,000 |
| Mechanical animals | 7 | 18 to 36 months | $92,000 |
Commissions brought the house $6.9 million in 2025. There is at present a waiting list of about nineteen months before work can begin on a new commission. The house does not take more work to shorten it.