- Christopher Niblett
Why Custom Made Furniture is better than Readymade
Updated: Aug 12, 2022
Custom made furniture is something that most people in Huntsville, AL appreciate. In fact, most people outside of Huntsville know just how valuable custom made furniture is. For instance, a lot of DIYers love the idea of refurbishing old pieces or painting new pieces to look more distressed. What draws people to custom made furniture? What makes someone’s armoire more valuable than appliances or other knickknacks?
Personal Customization
The great thing about custom made furniture is that they are commission-based. This means that carpenters make the pieces on the client’s request. So, if you think about it that means that the furniture is more suited to a person’s personality than most people realize. According to an Amish Outlet website, “Psychologically, wanting an object comes down to wanting to change your state as a person. And if you feel you want to change your style to a lasting and unique one by buying handcrafted goods, you may find this to be true.”
How we decorate, our preferences, and personality is a byproduct of our environment and experiences. So, it makes sense that all of these go into our input for custom made furniture design. The more we have say of over a custom product, the more others can see a reflection of us in it. That is what gives it more sentimental value than something that anyone can buy cheaply from a factory. It is a reflection of who you are and it is a reminder of who you are when you leave it to your family as an heirloom.
Better Function and Materials
There is an old idiom that is common in financial circles. “You get what you pay for”. While there is some debate about its origin or its application, there is some truth in it. 19th century English Poet, John Ruskin, wrote in The Common Law of Business Balance,
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot
– It can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
Cheaply made items have to have lowest grade materials, the least amount of labor, or regard to function. It is the only way for a business to profit by sheer quantity. That is the most common issue of mass-produced or readymade furniture. Cheap production costs require very little oversight and acceptable error. That’s why the foot-long subway sandwiches are not 10 inches. They only care about keeping the price low for the customer while keeping as high a profit for themselves as possible.
Is custom made furniture more expensive? Absolutely. But the goal is not just profit. The thought process of a trained artisan is to make it well, make it last, and make it right. Because they do not rely on quantity to make a profit. They rely on the quality of craftsmanship and repeat business. Factories and large business models don’t.
It’s More Environmentally Friendly
What do I exactly mean by environmentally friendly? After all, most, if not all custom made furniture is made of timber, a resource that technically spells environmental loss, right?
First of all, furniture does not have to be crafted with wood. There are substitutions for timber that range from Koko board to bamboo, plants that can grow faster than timber and is easier to replace. You can even utilize recycled wood and glass if you so chose.
Second, there is also the consideration of how long a piece of furniture lasts. If you are buying cheap furniture every couple of years, you are utilizing much more materials over time than if you are to buy one piece and keep it for decades. The furniture is tailor-made by someone who knows the properties of the materials they are working with. It is also given the right finish to keep it preserved over time. So it keeps for much longer than something that comes in parts and relies on someone with no experience to put it together.