Yes. Commissions need a really high price point to account for the one-off design work. Definitely leaving towards short production runs but with some degree of randomization in the process so every piece is unique.

Been thinking about ways to leverage my software background e.g. algorithmically generate unique patterns to laser cut onto paper then use rolling mill to transfer to metal sheet

Maybe make tooling to slightly offset patterns. Like spiral geometry, mandalas, Benoît algorithms.

Yup! Permutations are a great way to generate uniqueness.