Furniture trading can be traced back to the time of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and also the time of exploration. From logs to stones, humans have been sitting and setting things down. The first people who engaged in furniture trading would have to be carpenters. As communities were established in new towns beside rivers, they needed skilled workers to help in building homes. Farmers till the earth, hunters and trackers tamed the land together with woodcutters, and there were the carpenters. Carpenters built houses. The carpenter also furnished the inside of the home with furniture. At first, it would only be for his own house, his tables and chairs, his bed. Later on, the carpenter would regard furniture-making as incidental to his general work. Carpenters who were really good at making furniture would make more than they could use. They bartered or sold the surplus. Given the weight of tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, it was probably still a local and informal distribution system. Furniture trading had begun.
From the carpenter to the cabinet-maker, this was the next step in the evolution of furniture trading. Cabinet-makers were specialized woodworkers and the growth of cabinetmaking as a trade of its own eventually resulted in a considerable degree of standardization of methods of construction. Cabinet-makers soon came to be called designers, furniture became more customized to individual needs instead of the general masses. Advances in manufacturing methods would also revolutionize furniture trading, increasing product output while also halving production time.