Furniture making

When furniture is called the construction, ie the production of furniture . Furniture making is one of the oldest activities in human cultural history . The style of the furniture is divided into different epochs, often analogous to architectural epochs. The design is known as furniture design .

history

Originally it had the character of a predominantly handicraft - partly also artistic - activity, from the middle of the 19th century machine technology and industrial production brought about a major upheaval. Instead of the earlier production of individual pieces, which is now reserved for the top price segment, prevails today

• the mass and mass production ( system 32 )
• the furniture can be dismantled for transport
• Wood-based materials are the main raw material (and metals in the high-priced area)

In the 18th and 19th centuries, machine power was only used for the production of period furniture to rationalize manual labor. Only the bentwood chair by the Rhenish carpenter Thonet, with beech wood bent in steam, was suitable for mechanization - and at the same time, it was an inexpensive, stable and dismountable piece of furniture . For more modern design and production were in the 1920s , the years of plywood - and tubular steel furniture typical. Adjustable furniture came later. The built-in kitchen also experienced a major innovation with the Frankfurt kitchen at that time.

Accordingly, the carpenter's profession has shifted to industrial production in assembly companies on the one hand , and to the area of custom-made products on the other . At the same time as the specialization of the wood trades, do-it-yourself has enjoyed a strong upswing in recent decades . The range of work carried out by laypeople themselves ranges from minor repairs and restorations to self-construction of furniture.

Categories

With regard to the end products, furniture construction can be divided into the following areas:

• Box furniture (cupboards and chests, shelves, etc.)
• Table furniture (tables, desks, sideboards, etc.)
• Seating and lounging furniture (armchair, bed, lounger, armchair),
• but which overlap in office , garden and kitchen furniture as well as for furnishing business premises.

literature

• Peter Benje: Woodworking by machine. Its introduction and the effects on forms of business, products and production in the carpentry trade during the 19th century in Germany. Darmstadt 2002. Online: https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/143/
• Fritz Spannagel: Furniture making. A textbook for carpenters, architects and teachers . Schäfer, Hanover 1954; Reprint 2002, ISBN 3-87870-666-9

Web links

• Apprenticeship workshop for cabinet makers, Zurich
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Furniture Industry. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 10, 2009 , accessed June 12, 2019 .
• Furniture construction for do-it-yourselfers