I think the reason that a lot of craft furniture makers don't batch, but do custom one-offs is that for many things (i.e. not trad chairs which are particularly suited to small scale batch production) we fall between two stools. We end up making things that, even being batched, are still a lot more expensive than similar things made in a full-on factory in China, without them being obviously special enough to make it worth people paying the extra. So you are making a considerable financial outlay to make the things, but with a very high risk that they will not sell. And because they are much bulkier than, say, a potters pots, or a stack of cloth, you then have a real problem of where to store them in the meantime. And where do you sell them — shop space is expensive, and online is tricky as people are so adept at bargain hunting online now....
Not saying it's impossible, and it is easier to batch some things than others (trad style dining tables can work if you have somewhere to store them I think) but it's still an iffy proposition, particularly with large items. And with smaller items it can be even harder to show people where the value is in the price you have to charge compared to foreign factory-made things. Particularly when you realise that probably the vast majority of people are really not interested in quality, they are interested in something that does what they need, looks OKish, and is affordable, and that's about it.
So then maybe one can go to the top end of the market, and batch things with a real wow factor, but at this level even when batched the cost is pretty exorbitant. But if you also sell a personal service, where the client has some design input, and a relationship with the maker, and they are are getting something unique to them for all that money, the high price tends to make a bit more sense. So one tends to make custom one-offs. It's a fairly pragmatic way to go in the end, I don't think it has that much to do with not being willing to contemplate batch work in principle.
