I have noticed in recent years alot of Chinese made Georgian/ Chippendale repros. Many of these have reasonable looking joinery, are solid wood and have some competent carvings. The finishes are usually really terrible. It looks like they stopped at 150 grit and finished with used crankcase oil.
It really is a shame to see so much potential go bad.
Does anybody know much about this stuff. There is quite alot of it around here. If they get the fine points straight, this is going to be a challenge to American made furniture.
Frank
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I believe most furniture, including Ethan Allen, are made in China. I'm sure China has a lot of craftsmen, but they're probably not working in these factories.
I'm an owner of some Ethan Allen furniture. The pieces are new and clearly marked Made in America. They are top quality throughout, from design to finish. The Chinese have a long tradition of fine handcrafts. The population is quite capable of producing goods with extraordinary attention to detail. Made in China may soon be associated with the finest of quality.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I agree, Hammer........"Made in (Wherever)" isn't necessarily a warning label anymore. I'm old enough to remember when Toyota and Datsun (Nissan) cars were cheap, underpowered, junk. Not true, these days - lol.
The Pacific Rim countries can (and do) make some very good products and their quality improves every year.
I used to have a booth in an antique mall and the mall owner used to buy full containers of that junk, most of it made in Indonesia. The sellers claim real mahogany but I say "fiddle sticks", it is just some junk from a local forest. I do know for a fact that the wood is not kiln dried and it fequently cracks, bows and warps when it dries. I think the finish is (no joke) kerosene and shoe polish. I have seen the furniture arrive in a container with a big skull and cross-bones warning sign over the door, it smells like a leaky gas tank. A lot of it arrives broken beyond repair. Frequently the designs are crude copies and knaive in their execution, usually the scale is way off and they look massive.
I feel for the "kids" who load up their credit cards buying this cheap junk. I have seen them pay $1500 for a pedestal table and 8 chairs and they believe they are real antiques. The mall owner lets them "think"it is old..."it is what it is" he will say.
I refuse to repair the junk. And never try to strip it, you will not find a worse mess anywhere. On the upside it is handmade with crude handtools and it is cheap, real cheap.
The stuff Eathan Allen imports from China helps, not hurts our business (it drives customers into our arms) but this stuff is criminal. It gives handmade furniture a bad name...AND WHY DOESN'T IT SAY "MADE IN INDONESIA" somewhere on it????
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