I can see how furniture designed to be cheap(ly made) is not terribly robust. But what I’d really like to know about is how the quality/price ratio has changed over time.

I can easily find a carpenter who makes me high quality furniture. Or go to a company that sells furniture to cafes and restaurants, a market where longevity is an important selling point. But both of those are going to be very expensive – like “several hundred bucks for a single chair” expensive.

So how has quality per price changed over time? Because if quality was better but any piece of furniture was a significant investment… Well, then it wasn’t much different from today, the low-price segment just didn’t exist.