Furniture design training programs are tailored for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students. Whether you're seeking a degree, a certification designation, or simply looking for woodworking and design courses that focus on furniture, there are colleges and trade schools that offer a full range of hands-on instructional programs.
Furniture designers ply their trade as self-employed contractors and consultants or as employees for large and small furniture manufacturing companies and retailers. Typically they have formalized design training and skills in carpentry, construction materials, and artistic woodworking. In the formal training schools, furniture design aspirants can find associates and bachelor's degree programs that specialize on furniture, or that have a large component of a broader design program that focuses on furniture specializations.
Some design schools that specialize in the furniture field offer internships with woodworking and design companies as well as offer courses abroad that expose students to a historical view as well as current trends in furniture and wood. Training can also include functional skill courses in using lathes, saws, sanders, carvers, joiners, as well as broad materials in metals, plastics, and exotic wood.
Following formal training, many furniture designers undertake a 1-3 year apprenticeship, leading to a national licensing examination and higher wages. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), many interior designers worked for landscape and design companies, residential and commercial building companies, home furnishing stores, and building material manufacturers and resellers. The higher salaries, according to the BLS, went to designers at small and specialized boutiques and architectural service firms.
