Is Handcrafted Furniture Worth the Price?
Let's be honest: handcrafted furniture is expensive. Even simple pieces require many hours of skilled labour to build and finish. Compared to the prices of mass produced furniture, handmade pieces may seem exorbitant. But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Durable In Canada, we have access to a wide range of inexpensive consumer goods. These products are often well designed, but in general, are not very durable. After a year or two of use, a corner chips or something comes loose. Handcrafted furniture is 'bomb proof.' The techniques used to build fine furniture have been perfected over hundreds of years. In fact, furniture made with these techniques often lasts for hundreds or years.	Unique Even when well made, mass produced furniture remains just that: mass produced. Although a factory made piece may complete your decor in a fashionable way, it decorates many other people's homes in exactly the same way. When you buy a piece of handcrafted furniture you are buying an object that is one-of-kind, or one in a limited run of similar pieces. Even if part of a small run, the piece will be unique because it has been hand assembled and finished. The care and attention to detail that go into producing handcrafted furniture is a rare commodity in today's rushed world.	Expressive Handcrafted furniture is designed by the furniture maker. When you purchase a functional, beautiful piece of furniture built by a furniture maker, you are also purchasing their artistic vision. Because furniture makers design their own work, they can easily create a custom design specific to your needs. Most makers will gladly meet with you to explore your vision for a piece of furniture. They will suggest different designs that might meet your needs, and if you commission them, they will develop these ideas into drawings from which you can choose the final design for the commission. Try doing that at Ikea!

text & images © Jeff Hohner