Building a career in furniture design begins with schooling.
Here are some of the requirements of becoming a qualified furniture designer.
Schooling with the craft of designing furniture in mind involves a combination of pattern design and development, sketching ability, isometric drawing, spacing planning, layout, solving design related problems, interior design, industrial designing, and related fields. Use of computers today also means training in use of CAD or computer aided designing and how products are assembled. Earning your Bachelor’s degree and becoming certified as a furniture designer leads to becoming qualified by spending some time applied to on the job training. After the degree is earned there are still many ways to continue training and improve ones resume, and then go on to become highly qualified as a designer of fine furniture.
Look for an entry level position that offers additional training.
Some companies seek out ambitious furniture design graduates who are looking to further their education with intensive on the job training as they work for pay. In this way students can earn while continuing their education and following guidelines supplied by their employer. They may not do actual designing yet but are learning the way their employer wishes the work to be done. They have the opportunity to learn various types of fabric, period styles of popular furniture, and how to apply that knowledge to actual tasks which will further their experience as well their education.
Attend all the trade shows and exhibitions that are available.
While learning, whether still in school or working an entry level position for a new employer, it is highly beneficial to see as much of the work done by others as possible. Exhibitions are found nearly everywhere from time to time and they have much to offer in way of variety. That variety is what will help hone the novice designer’s own ideas and allow them to decide on a specialty if they elect to.
Training schooling and experience make up your portfolio.
When seeking out that career building job it helps to bring along a portfolio loaded up with degrees earned, experience gained, and employer recommendations earned from those entry level positions that served as stair steps toward a successful career in furniture design. Let the internet help when it comes to gaining information on where to find those trade shows and exhibitions and don’t forget sites like Monster.com, Furniture World (furninfo.com), and American Society of Furniture designers (afsd.org) as potential links to finding that career fulfilling job as well.
Once you’ve acquired the necessary skills, you can become a bespoke furniture maker and make designs of your own.
