Over time shopping habits of consumers in the area of furniture for their home, have strayed more and more away from their local craftsmen and customized furniture manufuctureslimiting themselves to just the selection available at their local retail stores . Not long ago, the option of buying a desk for your office or dresser for your bedroom was available only at your local furniture maker. The opportunity to have furniture made custom to your liking and design was made available by the craftsman, and they would service any problems you may have had with that furniture and also provided an additional service of maintaining that furniture when it got scratched or damaged in moving. Where most consumers have been trained into thinking that mega-manufactured paper cut out designed furniture is their only option. This is a persuasion piece to let them know that there are other options and are most of the time, MORE economical than the $300 desk they can get at Ikea. Mass produced furniture is an assembly line product. 1 designer, not native to your area (i.e. not familiar with local design tastes), first tries to decide what everyone in that retail store’s audience will like. They make a prototype and the marketing team decides on that style. From that prototype a manufacturer will start to make compromises in the original design of the furniture piece so that it can be mass produced, shipped in pieces and assembled by the consumer once they get it home. The mega chain stores need to make a nice margin on their furniture so that they can pay the designer, the assembly line workers, the logistics personnel, the executives, etc…. so they are going to use the cheapest materials possible. Most of the time its pressed particle board (wood chips held together with glue) with a sticker over the top of the particle board giving the piece the appearance of wood or whatever material they are trying to emulate. This need for high margin leads to poor quality of a furniture piece that rarely survives one move from it’s original location, let alone 2. Also, these pieces for the furniture are manufactured not in the US, nor is the material purchased in the us. Most of the time these “designed for you” pieces are manufactured in Indonesia or China. This is not a case for all consumers to contact me to make all of their furniture when they are in the market for a piece for their home, as I simply don’t have that much time on my hands. This is a case to persuade consumers to contact their local craftsman first who provide customized furniture services. Consumers don’t know that there exists skilled furniture makers in almost every city that are excellent at their trade and will work with you to provide a custom design specific to you. Consumers have available to them a person that will help them design a piece. The craftsman will let them choose the exact material they want to use and if a material is not available or viable for a piece, will help them select the appropriate material. Will give you a solid piece of heirloom quality furniture that is sturdy and can easily last 20, 60 or even over 100 years making the additional price you pay for the piece well worth it over the pre-canned cheap alternative at the furniture stores. Most importantly, this is designed by a local craftsman in your local economy. Even if you select a furniture maker out of state to make your pieces, you’re still employing an American workforce to furnish your home. That local craftsman is also available to service the furniture for any scrapes and scratches you will get from normal everyday use At the very least, please be aware that this is an available alternative when furnishing your home. Why should a consumer settle for the mega chain pre-fabricated in China option? They can have a local master craftsman design and make beautiful custom furniture for their house or apartment, making it a beautiful home custom to them.
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