It's still possible to get furniture made in the area - https://www.untothislast.co.uk have a workshop at the top of Brick Lane that you can visit. They also deliver by cargo bike which can look pretty impressive for the larger items.
it's coloquially known as 'rubber ducking'. its been studied extensively in pedagogy. In short, having to arrange the thoughts in your own way in order to explain it 'forces' the brain to fill in the gaps and move the data from recall memory to more abstract deductible type of memory (at least this was the theory years ago when I studied it. I imagine there are funky new fMRI studies that have a more nuanced view now). This is why it's recommend to take notes in a lecture, even if you have no intention of keeping them, or why 60% of classroom learning (in children) is peer-to-peer, not instructor-to-peer
Indeed, lived there for many years, walked past most of the buildings and although I've seen some of the signs didn't realise the area was so concentrated in veneers and furniture.
