Wooden furniture and trends

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
So i was put through another final session of my wife watching (thank goodness) the final episode of Downton Abbey on PBS tonight. (no comment).

The one thing that i looked at and thought about past visits to some of those estate homes in the UK and museums is the woodworking and wooden trim.

The thought struck me and i decided to ask the question here,

Do you think we shall ever see a return to having pieces of furniture in a home that are finely crafted and endure. I don't just mean something made of all wood. I am thinking true fine craftsmanship with all sorts of inlay and carvings and curves and mostly veneered?

Seems to me we see all sorts in fashion recycle and i was wondering what you all think in this regard.

Have we reached a stage forever where we never see mankind value this kind of work again?

Yes i know the everyman can only afford Ikea etc but even in Edwardian era the everyman could not afford those kinds of piece of furniture.

My question is will the equivalent wealthy folk today once again seek out to have work of this type commissioned and i dont mean a single piece intended as a family heirloom. I am thinking of a fashion period where its more abundantly sought after.

Dont misinterpret my question, this is more a I wonder than any remote thought i may have of making anything of that sort never mind doing it as a living or business.
 
Yes, no, maybe..

There are some folks who still do it, so from that perspective yes. They are however far from the majority of even the upper crust and the conspicuous displays of wealth have somewhat moved to other venues so from that perspective no.

Long term I'm hesitant to guess. I suspect that the underemployed underclasses will continue to grow. One possible outcome could be somewhat a return to utilizing conspicuously handmade items as a display of wealth as machine goods become less distinguished (there is some of this happening in some venues now, how long that persists is anyone's guess).

In large part the upper crust purchasing of these falls into the veblen goods category
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
So the rate of purchase is driven largely by perception and not so much by logic or actual value.

For the lower end the question becomes whether the cost of disposable items will catch up to the cost of less disposable items. Observing how IKEA has moved thier kitchen cabinets from having some solid finger jointed wood to being all plastic veneers on pressboard (at least locally), I'm not overly optimistic in the near term.
 
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