Custom Copper Made to Your Drawing

BakırBul has custom copper cookware, mugs and serveware made to your own drawing at trade quantities, through the workshop we work with in Türkiye. New tooling is commissioned where the form does not exist yet, sizes and sheet gauge follow your specification, and your mark goes on the piece and the carton.

How a custom order actually runs

A custom copper order runs in five stages: you send a drawing, photograph or physical sample; we answer feasibility before price; tooling is quoted separately if the form needs it; a sample is made and approved; then the run is produced, checked and dispatched. Nothing enters production before you have held the sample.

What decides whether it is worth doing

Quantity decides whether custom copper is worth doing, and the form decides whether it is possible. Tooling is a one-off cost spread across the run, so the same tooling is negligible per piece on a proper quantity and ruinous on a single item. There is no published threshold because it differs by piece.

Quantity, and nothing else really. A one-off piece is a workshop favour, not a business — the tooling swamps it. The same tooling across a proper run is a rounding error per piece. We do not publish a threshold figure because the answer genuinely differs between a small mug and a large hammered body; send the number you have in mind and we will tell you which side of the line it falls on.

The second thing is the form itself. Copper is raised, spun and hammered, not moulded. Shapes with deep undercuts, sharp internal corners or moulded detail fight the material. That is a conversation worth having over a drawing rather than after a bill.

Marking, engraving and packaging

Engraving on copper is cut to order and set on the approved sample, not adjusted mid-run. Depth and placement are the two decisions that matter: shallow marks vanish under polishing, and a deep mark placed over a tinned interior can compromise the lining. Packaging can carry your label rather than ours.

Most trade orders carry a mark. Engraving is cut to order and can be a logo, a house name, a capacity mark or a line of dedication text. Depth matters more than people expect: shallow marks disappear under a polish, deep ones catch on a tinned interior if placed badly. We set both on the sample and keep them identical across the run so a reorder matches the first order.

Packaging can carry your label rather than ours. Work made to your drawing goes out under your mark, not under ours.

How we work

BakırBul works through a long-term production partnership rather than an in-house plant: we write the specification, our partner produces the piece, and we carry it under our own name and take responsibility for it. That is why a form which does not exist yet can be commissioned rather than refused.

We work through a long-term production partnership — we specify the piece, our partner produces it, and we carry it under our own name. That is why we can commission new tooling for a form that does not exist yet.

Copper is selected from the workshops of Kahramanmaraş and other Anatolian copper towns, brought into our own warehouse, checked against the order and shipped. Sizes, forms and marking outside the catalogue are made to your specification.

From drawing to sample to series

Custom copper moves through three stages, and each one closes a different question. The drawing settles whether the form can be made in copper at all. The sample settles proportion, weight in the hand, finish and marking. The series settles consistency — every piece in the run is made against the approved sample rather than against the drawing.

The drawing stage is where the honest no lives. Copper is raised, spun, hammered and soldered — it is not cast and it is not injection moulded. Forms with deep undercuts, sharp internal corners, or fine moulded relief either cannot be made in sheet copper or can only be made at a cost that makes no commercial sense. We would rather say that over a sketch than after tooling has been paid for. Where a form is close but not quite workable, the useful conversation is usually about which single dimension to move.

The sample stage is where drawings stop being abstract. A body that looks correct on paper can feel wrong in the hand: a wall gauge that seemed generous can be heavier than a server wants to carry all evening, a handle angle that measured fine can pull awkwardly when the pan is full, a rim that looked elegant can be uncomfortable to pour from. These are not faults, they are discoveries, and they cost nothing at sample stage and a great deal at run stage. Marking depth and placement are also signed off here, on the piece rather than on a screen.

The series stage is about repetition, not creation. Once a sample is approved it becomes the reference: form, diameter, height, capacity, sheet gauge, finish name, handle type, marking position. The run is made against that record, and so is the next run a year later. This is why we ask buyers to keep a piece from the first batch unused — a physical reference settles in a minute what photographs argue about for a week.

Lead time follows the same three stages rather than being one number. Feasibility is fast. A sample takes as long as making one piece properly takes. The run depends on the quantity, the finish and whether tooling has to be made first. We give a realistic figure when the specification is settled, and we would rather quote a date we can hold than a date that sounds good in an e-mail.

What a technical drawing needs to contain

A workable copper drawing needs six things: outside diameter, overall height, capacity, sheet gauge, handle or knob detail, and the finish. A dimensioned sketch on paper is enough — CAD is welcome but not required. Where a dimension is unknown, a photograph of a similar piece with something for scale beside it does the job.

Diameter and height are the two that decide almost everything else, because they set how much sheet goes into the piece. Give the outside diameter at the widest point and say where you measured it; a bowl measured at the rim and a bowl measured at the belly are different orders.

Capacity matters more than it looks, especially for drinkware, coffee pots and jugs, because buyers often specify a diameter that cannot physically hold the volume they have in mind. If the capacity is the fixed requirement, say so, and let the dimensions follow it rather than the other way round.

Sheet gauge is the quiet variable that separates a piece which survives commercial service from one that dents in a month. Thicker sheet costs more, weighs more and holds heat better; thinner sheet is cheaper and lighter and is fine for decorative and serving pieces that never see a flame. If you do not know what gauge you want, describe the use and we will propose one.

Handles, knobs and rivets. Say the material — copper, brass, wood, or a heat-resistant handle — and say whether the piece is carried full and hot. Copper handles conduct heat; that is fine on a serving tray and a real consideration on a cooking body. Riveted joints are the norm; where a form needs a different joint we will say so.

The finish should be named rather than described by colour, because “copper coloured” covers several very different processes. Red copper, oxidised or antique, nickel, scotch-brite matt, matt black and dark brown each behave differently in service, and the right one depends on how the piece is handled and washed.

Two optional extras speed things up considerably: a tolerance you can live with, and a photograph of anything you consider a close reference. Hand-worked copper carries natural variation between pieces, so a drawing that demands machined tolerances is a drawing that cannot be quoted honestly. Tell us what actually matters — a lid that seats, a stack that nests, a capacity that is not short — and the specification is written around those.

Tooling: when a new mould is worth it

Tooling is worth making when the same form will be ordered more than once, or in a quantity large enough to spread a one-off cost thinly. Existing forms need no tooling at all. Tooling is quoted on its own line, paid once, kept for your form, and not charged again on a repeat order.

The word “mould” is slightly misleading for copper, and it is worth being precise, because buyers arriving from plastics or die-casting expect a different economic shape. Copper cookware is made from sheet: it is spun over a form, raised and hammered by hand, or pressed. What gets made for a new shape is usually a spinning chuck or a press form, plus the hand tooling and templates that go with it. That is cheaper than an injection mould and more expensive than nothing.

When tooling is not needed: a catalogue form in a different finish, a catalogue form with your engraving on it, a catalogue form in a different sheet gauge, or a size that already exists in the range even if it is not the one shown on the product page. A surprising number of “custom” enquiries turn out to sit here, which is the cheapest possible outcome and the first thing we check.

When tooling is needed: a genuinely new profile, a proportion that does not exist in any current body, a lid or handle geometry that has no counterpart, or a piece designed around your own brand language. That is real design work at the partner workshop, and the cost is real.

How to think about the cost. Tooling is fixed and the run is variable, so the tooling cost per piece falls as the quantity rises and rises sharply as it falls. A single piece carries the whole of it. A serious run carries almost none of it. This is why we will not publish a minimum figure: the same tooling cost is trivial against a run of small mugs and heavy against a handful of large hammered bodies. Send the quantity you have in mind and we will tell you which side of the line you are on.

What happens to the tooling afterwards. It stays available for your form. A second order is made against the same tooling and the approved sample, which is the practical reason repeat custom orders are cheaper and faster than first ones. If a form was designed to your drawing, it is used for your work.

What we will not copy

BakırBul will not reproduce a piece that carries someone else’s registered design, trade mark or protected shape. Sending a competitor’s product as a shape reference is normal and welcome; asking for a branded copy is not. Where a reference piece is protected, we will say so and propose a form that is genuinely yours instead.

This is not caution for its own sake. A registered design or a trade mark is enforceable in the buyer’s own market, not only in ours, and the party who imports and sells an infringing product is the party who gets stopped at the border or sued afterwards. A copy that arrives safely is not the same as a copy that is safe to sell.

The line in practice is easier than it sounds. Shape and function are usually free. A round hammered tray, a two-part Turkish tea set, a cezve with a long handle, a straight-sided mug — these are traditional forms that have been made in Anatolia for generations and belong to nobody. Sending a photograph of one and saying “like this, but taller, with our mark” is a perfectly ordinary brief and we work from those every week.

What is not free is a distinctive registered design, a logo or a house mark belonging to someone else, a name or word mark, or a shape that a company has specifically registered as its own. Design and trade mark registers are public: the EU Intellectual Property Office covers registered Community designs and EU trade marks, and the World Intellectual Property Organization explains how design protection works internationally. If you are unsure whether the piece you admire is protected, those are the places to look before the drawing stage rather than after tooling.

We also will not put your mark on someone else’s product, and we will not put our own name on work made for you. Both rules point the same way: whoever’s mark is on the piece should be the party who stands behind it.

If a reference piece turns out to be protected, the conversation does not end. In our experience what a buyer actually wants is rarely the exact registered detail — it is the proportion, the weight, the finish and the feel. Those can be reached by a different route, and the result belongs to you rather than being borrowed.

Food-contact surfaces are never left untinned

Every surface that meets food in a BakırBul piece is tin-lined, and that is not negotiable on a custom order. Bare copper reacts with acidic food and can release copper into it; tin provides a neutral barrier. Untinned interiors are made only for decorative pieces and dry goods that never touch food.

This is the one specification we will argue with a customer about. Buyers occasionally ask for bare copper interiors because they have seen French confiture pans, which are traditionally unlined for a real technical reason — copper ions help pectin set, and sugar concentrations high enough for jam limit the reaction. Outside that narrow case, an unlined copper cooking surface in contact with acidic food is a food safety problem, not a style choice.

Copper is an essential trace nutrient in small amounts and a problem in large ones, which is why food-contact guidance treats it as a release limit rather than a ban. The European framework for materials in contact with food is Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, and the Council of Europe technical guide on metals and alloys in food contact materials sets out release limits for copper specifically. Neither document says copper cookware is unsafe; both say the food-contact surface has to be controlled. Lining it with tin is how that has been done for centuries.

Tin is soft and it has a low melting point, which has two practical consequences your specification should account for. An empty pan left on a high flame can damage the lining, on any heat source. And tin wears with use: a piece in daily commercial service will need relining sooner than a home piece. Neither is a defect. Relining is a normal maintenance operation, and it is one of the reasons hand-worked copper stays in service for decades rather than being thrown away.

We do not hold a food-contact test report today, and we say so plainly rather than implying certification we cannot show. If your market requires documentation, tell us at the drawing stage — testing can be arranged and it takes time. The full position is on our food contact page.

Send the drawing

A first answer needs a sketch, a photograph or a description with sizes, plus the quantity you have in mind. Feasibility comes back before any price — a plain yes or no with the reason — followed by a quotation that separates one-off tooling from the per-piece figure. WhatsApp accepts photographs directly.

A sketch, a photograph, or a description with sizes and a quantity. We come back with feasibility first, then a price and a realistic lead time. If it is easier to show than to write, WhatsApp takes photographs.

Questions about custom work

The answers below cover pieces that are not in the catalogue at all, who pays for tooling, sending a physical sample to copy, whether a second order matches the first, and untinned interiors. The short version: quantity decides feasibility, and the approved sample decides everything else.

Can you make a piece that is not in your catalogue at all?

Usually yes, if the quantity carries it. Copper is a forgiving material for new forms — what limits us is tooling economics rather than the craft. Send the form and the number and we will answer straight.

Who pays for the tooling?

You do, and it is quoted on its own line rather than buried in the unit price. It is a one-off: a reorder of the same form does not pay it again.

Can I send a physical sample to copy?

Yes, and it is the easiest brief to work from. One limit we hold to: we will not copy a piece that carries someone else’s registered design or trade mark.

Will the second order match the first?

That is what the approved sample is for. Form, gauge, finish name and marking are recorded against the order so a reorder is made against the same reference rather than from memory.

Can the interior be left untinned?

For decorative and dry-goods pieces, yes. For anything that meets food we line it, and we would push back hard on an untinned cooking piece — that is a food safety question, not a finish preference.

The 2026 catalogue — the full range with codes, sizes and weights: open or download it here.

Last updated: 10 September 2026