What type of furniture is in highest demand?

[Doug Barker]

What area of the furniture market has, in you opinion, the largest unmet demand?
Arts & Craft? Modern?

[Greg Scott]

It seems in this area anything that has Amish Handcrafted in the name, even though most of it is just assembled by the Amish and the parts are probably coming from China milled with a CNC.

[Doug Barker]

Greg: I hope you are wrong.

[Tom Sontag]

The market is in equilibrium; there is no unmet demand. By far the largest demand category is "cheap".

I am not really trying to be flippant, but there is a market for all types and surely my answer based on St. Louis may not be relevant to your answer in your market. Ask and research locally is my firm recommendation. If you are trying to build a business, make what you like to make because anything less will be torture.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Good question...and if the answer was easy, everybody would be making the same thing, nothing would be 'special' anymore, the price of 'custom' work would go go down, and lots of pros would be hobbysists again.

I've been doing 'kinda' Arts & Crafts/Mission for a couple years now...and even tho my stuff is 'for sale', my new philosophy is I really don't care whether anybody buys it or not...I'm doing what I WANT to do, and I'm doing it with the idea that I may have to keep it. I built a pair of mesquite Morris chairs several years ago, and all modesty aside, they were beautiful... but I carried one of them to shows for a couple years before the 'right' buyer came along (one sold right away). They look real nice in a booth...and people like them...and KC likes 'em...but I can't afford to 'sit on' one just in case the next 'right' somebody comes along someday.

'Spec' building ain't for sissies...but it's awfully hard to get started any other way.

KC

[Chris Barton]

I think what others have said is true, cheap is the common denomenator. I get requests all the time for custom pieces and when I quote a reasonable price that includes a profit for me the customer suddenly gets cold feet or says they can get something like it at a furniture store for less. I try to explain that I can't make a single custom, made to order piece that will compete on price with a piece made from 80% MDF, by a plant in China making 100K of that item in a production line environment. If you want to get into the business and hope to make money try to hook up with the top 2-3 professional architechs and interior designers in your area. They can steer work you way but, will likely want you to sell to them so they can mark up and resell to the end consumer.

Chris