If you're in the process of deciding on a new piece of furniture for your home, then it's very likely that you're trying to find the right style and feel to fit your homes design. Whilst this is a must to keep a coherent and consistent arrangement, it's also important to consider the source of your furniture and understand its construction. So specifically, furniture is either handmade or machine made and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of both can help you to decide and make a final decision on what you're going to opt for. So read on to understand exactly what these are and the differences between the two.
Now before we get into it, let's consider what the difference is between these two types of furniture. So firstly machine made furniture as the name might suggest, is furniture produced by a machine, so normally made in mass production within a factory. Then handmade furniture is a piece that has been made by hand and crafted by human. So now let's explore the pros and cons of each.
Quantity v Quality
Probably a good starting point is the quality v quantity debate which can quickly detail some of the key differences between machine made and handmade furniture.
Now in terms of machine made furniture, the emphasis is very much on large scale quantities and producing mass amounts of the same style as quickly as possible within factories. Whilst these pieces offer benefits in terms of affordable price ranges and a consistent quality level throughout the product piece, that level of quality is commonly lower because of the cheaper materials and machines used within the factories.
Alternatively, handmade furniture is constructed by a skilled craftsperson using high quality materials to ensure a sturdy and strong product. Not only this, but handmade furniture is purely a unique and one of a kind design because craftsman will normally only make one off pieces. It will definitely have character and charm! Even if design templates are used to replicate, because this furniture is made my hand, you can be sure that each piece will be slightly different and personal to you. Therefore, with better quality materials and highly skilled craftsperson working one-to-one with the wood to ensure its the highest possible standard, handmade furniture is very much focused on quality rather than quantity.
Lifetime of Furniture
Now, when you're about to buy a new piece of furniture, thinking about its lifetime is an important consideration to make. With machine made furniture, it's very well known that it can become fragile and weak after short periods of time. This is partly due to the cheaper materials used and also because furniture parts used are made by a machine and so a seamless and tight fix is not always possible. So whilst machine made furniture may seem cheaper at the beginning, understanding that its lifetime is relatively short and the potential to have to continuously replace it is important.
If we compare this to handmade furniture, then theres no question that this type of construction will last longer and even a lifetime - commonly with little maintenance required as well. Because of the large amount of hours and craft spent on a single piece of handmade furniture to perfect its structure and build, then it is pretty much guaranteed to be extremely durable. Therefore, if you look at the overall lifespan of both handmade and machine made furniture, then opting for a handmade piece will work out cost-effective in the long term.
Customisation
Another important comparison between handmade furniture and machine made furniture is the ability to tailor your furniture to meet your needs and requirements. Specifically, with machine made furniture, there is very little opportunity to adapt it to meet your specific requirements other than potentially colour and style of finish. This is because this type of furniture is mass produced in particular designs and trends using standard sizes. Therefore, customers would be unable to alter existing shapes and designs due to high costs.
If we explore handmade furniture on the other hand, bespoke features and customisation is very much apart of the package. Specifically, because this furniture is made by hand, it is much easier to make certain adjustments and changes with subsequently more flexibility around the design and size options available. Moreover, these pieces of furniture are made to order and therefore crafted to the customers specifications and bespoke requirements.
Sustainability
Now, we would encourage all furniture buyers to think about environmental care and sustainability before purchasing a new product. In fact, its quickly becoming a strong consideration for many and so understanding where your handmade or machine made furniture comes from is a great start. Now, speaking in general, machine made furniture uses severely more energy and emissions as it is made on a mass production line and using materials that are cost effective. Subsequently, this means that sustainability is often overlooked with machine made furniture as considerable energy is used to deliver cost-effective materials using unsustainable techniques to make them.
Handmade furniture will use far less energy than its counterpart and with higher quality finishes, will last decades and even lifetimes. Therefore, without a need to replace, you can continue to reuse and recycle your handmade pieces, adding to its sustainability attractiveness.
Why is Handmade Furniture Better?
And so from comparing and looking at two different options, machine made furniture may look appealing to begin with, but you're better off investing in some high quality handmade furniture that suits your design and requirements. It may be more expensive to begin with, but over the long term, there really is only one option!
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