TomD
"The general public don't have the same background to make that determination. "

There have always been style setters out there. These days, though, they have discovered the process can be undertaken without quality as part of the equation. In fact a necessary component seems to be to wring the quality and cost out. A lot more money can be made selling T-shirts than a hand woven tweed jacket.

I think we also have to look ourselves in the mirror. Very few people wear good clothes for instance. Up until a few years back the US was the richest society perhaps to ever have existed, and yet the standards of dress are abysmal. People will not pay for properly fitted clothes, or shoes. Yet hundreds are spent on crap like Nikes. There is quality being overlooked in some sector by just about everyone.

It would be an interesting question to determine what furniture means to people. It has an immediate functionality, but furniture is clearly really important to people, but how is that. If you are in the woodworking furniture thing, there are a bunch of words that one could associate. For instance quality. Lets say we had a focus group on furniture, what would be the five terms people would most associate with furniture in a positive way that would make then buy it.