After a design picture is made, wood will be cut and split according to the size of designed product. Craftsmen then start woodcarving, making figures and sculptures on the wood.
With globalization process, most of the curving process of wood furniture in the world today happens in developing countries as India and China. The low labor costs attracts furniture companies all over the world set their factories in these countries. But the lower labor costs also cause the carving workers suffer from poor working conditions. According to researches, most male workers in the carving factory will do the carving or making wooden figures while most female workers will do the decoration and the assembling. They all risk factors and health problems from continuous inappropriate positions, contact of dust and chemicals, as well as from the dangers of operating machines. Most of the workers know the risks they are facing, but because the problem does not immediately cause the fatal danger to the workers and they have to make more money to make a living, so they just ignore them. But after enough time of working, illnesses like pains and aches could be found among most of the workers (Yimyam, 2004). Developed countries can not just enjoy the low price of the products manufactured in developing countries regardless the workers who made these products are suffering. They should work with developing countries and help them to improve the working conditions in most of the manufacturing factories not only the wood furniture factories.
(Photo Credit: Naser I Hossain)