![]() Debating on trying to patch it up or just toss it when I clear out the storage unit. These have been in the same spot since I assembled them and put them up in the house, yet the moment I went to move them I ended up with the bottom falling out, shelf pins snapping, all kinds of damage. Had some Ikea "high end" cabinets I put together 7 or 8 years ago that I just recently moved into storage. ![]() "My most successful products, sadly, have always had the biggest margin, so they've had the lowest cost."Ĭlick to shrink.Funny you say this since I literally just experienced it. She describes the constant grind of the design process for major retailers as "soul crushing." When she dared to create pieces that cost more to make, and thus were more expensive for consumers, she says her employers would take them out of production quickly. "The whole industry has just changed so dramatically," Lemery says. Chinese-made wood products are similarly cheap, but the quality is wildly inconsistent. Rubber wood, for example, is less expensive than most other lumber because it's a byproduct of latex manufacturing, but it's prone to decay. These changes result from the same directive: "Everyone is just trying to reduce cost," says CoCo Ree Lemery, a furniture designer who has worked for brands such as Pottery Barn and West Elm, and is currently a visiting professor of furniture design at Purdue University. ![]() Today, most of what's on the market consists of Chinese-made press board and plywood, while pieces marketed as "solid wood" might be rubber wood with glued-on veneer. In the mid-20th century, the more affordable stuff was typically made domestically of American plywood - i.e., thin layers of wood glued together - while fancier pieces might be solid cherry or oak, and could be made in the United States or come from Italy or Denmark. To understand the decline in quality, first consider what most furniture is actually made of. I had a big discount working there - I didn't buy anything." Of one past employer, he says: "Without giving away any secrets, their margins are high and their quality is not good at all. Michael Brotman has designed for several of them, but he recently quit Big Furniture to open his own studio. Even higher-end chains aren't always a safe bet.
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