The Victorian Era was a time of great changes to everyday life in 19th Century England. People are still experiencing those changes even now. There were new inventions being created. New ideas of how to build a building were coming out. Most of all there was a bold new approach to what we think of as an ordinary object, furniture. The business of furniture making was going from being a craft, to becoming an industry. There were all kinds of new machines being introduced. The technique of building the pieces was altered. Materials used to make the furniture changed.
The furniture business was becoming bigger. It was become an industry, not a craft. Changes in furniture came about because of the new conditions now that Queen Victoria was ruling. The social and economic conditions in England were changing. The changes that altered the design, craftsmanship, distribution, and marketing of furniture were all to do with the new economy.
Portrait of Alfred the Great.
English: Slum in Glasgow, 1871
FurnitureThere was an increase of people's wealth. The population of cities grew. Machinery was now being used to help make the furniture. Transportation was greatly improved then before.
The supply and demand wasn't complicated at all. In the carpenter business there was a master craftsman. That master had 2 or more apprentices and many journeymen. Each master in England was specialized in a certain type of furniture. This way there could be furniture produced at a higher rate than when one man was doing all the work.
The introduction of new machines greatly improved many aspects of the furniture building process. Not only did the machines make the work quicker, it also made it cheaper. The new machines also made the furniture more accurately than doing the work by hand.
The new woodworking machines were run by a new source of power,