Studies & Degrees in Furniture Design

Choose where you would like to study Furniture Design:

Included in several disciplines under the larger umbrella ARTS is Furniture Design. It is about creating new and unique looks, function, and overall appearance in furniture. Furniture Design requires a wide range of skills, such as architectural design, interior design, fashion, and carpentry. The designer should also be an active researcher himself to be informed of the latest in the industry. Attending trade shows and furniture exhibits and doing cross-country visits are some ways to facilitate the needed research. As opposed to what some might expect, designing furniture does not only take into account the aesthetic aspect of the product. Equally important, the designer should ensure the furniture’s usability and practicability (in terms of function, cost, and space consideration), its applicability in the theme (of occasion) or culture of its users, its strength and flexibility, its simplicity, and designer’s sense of creativity and innovation. Technical knowledge about strength, quality, and availability of materials is just as important. Today’s Furniture Design can be made through the help of computer-aided design software and other technological breakthroughs.

Some of the most used and popular furniture that come in various designs include benches, storage chest, book shelves, display cabinets, chairs, dresser, cradle, desk, home bar, tables, sofa, bed, and couch. Furniture materials include metals, wood, ceramic, gold, silver, bronze, and marbles among others. Top-class and signature designs are also highly marketable both in domestic and foreign markets.

Furniture designers are contracted as designer who should come up with designs which will be used either in mass production (as in the case of commercial furniture lines and companies) or in limited production (as in the case of individuals, families, museums, and institutions who want to have designs exclusive for their use); as furniture fabricator who will do the actual production of furniture given the design; as consultant or manager in furniture manufacturing firm; or as researcher (the ones employed by commercial furniture companies to work on continuous research and come up with new and trendy designs exclusive for the company). There are many furniture designers who go for freelance jobs. There are also those who pursue entrepreneurship in the line of Furniture Design and manufacturing. For those who pursue entrepreneurship, aside from the creative and technical skills required of the field, he also needs to consider garnering skills about marketing and sales of his designs or products and financial management of the business in general.

Salary of furniture designers depend highly on skills and company being worked for. On top of this, some well-known designers also get royalties from big and well-known manufacturers for their designs. With involvement of carpentry and architectural design (career lines that are dominated by men), men are expected to dominate the world of furniture design. It is worthy noting, nonetheless, that women’s involvement in this field is getting higher.