Furniture in the normal "furniture store" price ranges are built for price-sensitive markets with economies of scale. If you really want measurably higher quality furniture, you're probably going to want to look at brands with pricing an order of magnitude higher. This quality of furniture typically does not sell at high volume, so it is often only at specialty retailers, or is made-to-order.

A good place to start in my opinion is with the well regarded office-furniture brands, Herman Miller, Steelcase, Hon, etc. They are well experienced in making furniture that can handle abuse, because commercial furniture takes a lot of abuse. And as far as durability goes, they make durable furniture in the highest volumes and have the most reasonable prices you're going to get.