Manufactured "Antiques" #
To the average person, these items may look like as if they are hand-made, traditional antique Chinese pieces. Hand crafted. Hand painted. Possibly even antiques.
But in reality this Chinese style furniture is just another mass produced product, no different from a car or a blender.
Let me say that again:
Mass produced. #
Large scale. #
Huge quantities. #
This is an area where people often have a quite a lot of difficulty distinguishing between the “style” of the product (in other words the visual appearance of the item) vs the actual “type” of product.
What exactly does that mean?
Setting aside the issues of comparing apples to oranges, pointing out the differences in the manner in which these items come into existence is extremely important.
Hand made #
Traditionally, Chinese style furniture is created by hand, using traditional construction techniques like complex joinery and later finished in natural lacquers applied in multiple layers. The materials used from the woods in the frame to the brass hard on the outside is mostly natural. It takes a long time to make a single piece and even larger workshops are limited in the number of pieces they can create.
Mass produced Chinese style furniture on the other hand, is created almost entirely by modern tools, complex machinery and artificial man made materials. All within in a normal production line environment. Even parts are interchangeable/replaceable
The “leather” is actually synthetic. The wood is often composite materials like plywood or MDF. The “paintings” are often printed on.
This is no different than the assembly line techniques used to build a washing machine or a modern office chair. #
Even the buying process as a furniture retailer is different
- KNOWLEDGE: Unlike antiques where you need to know about about periods, wood types etc, there is no special knowledge required to purchase, other then of common styles and an ability to recognize quality in regards to price.
- OPTIONS: Set options are according to manufacturers pre-set colors, sizes or feature sets. Limited choices. Usually follows pre-set product lines.
- ORDERING: There are usually significant minimum quantities requirements, and the ordering process is very standard, sophisticated and business like. Items can be re-ordered within exact specifications.
- SUPPLY/PRICING: Pricing is typically stable and organized according to a structured price list based on quantities and chosen options. Supply is limited only by market conditions such as raw materials cost and production capacity
- TYPES: Highly technical/Non-technical and Sample (see custom)
Spotting these items is easy because the very quickly fail the test of “unique.” When you look closely you find they are perfect. Very practical. No wear and tear, either real or faked. 100% standardized.
Same same - but different #
Often the drawers have perfect tracks and the doors use modern hinges. Insides are often covered in paper and the one might even notice how thin the construction is. The first one made is identical to the 10,000th one made. The materials can be wiped easily. They made fit your CD’s perfectly or perhaps they come in different colors. Like this chest which is also available in red or green in addition to black. Its for this reason the smaller items often are also often sold in the tourist trade.
In addition, because of the economies of scale here, there is a HUGE difference in price between factory made items vs antiques, reproductions or other product classes including even fakes.
If a customer does not know anything about cars, then they may be unable to tell the difference between a economy class car vs a luxury brand. What if the customers doesn’t care about the differences?
No problem – just make sure you don’t mistakenly buy that economy car at the luxury class car price.
