Furniture designer : Career development

Furniture designers typically work as consultant designers, in-house designers for manufacturing companies, bespoke designers within established furniture design companies, designers/makers of bespoke furniture, production facility managers/consultants, freelance designers for corporate/domestic clients or limited/batch/mass production markets.

Opportunities for progression are linked to company size, work volume, ability to diversify and level of international activity. Typical career progression may be a step up every three to four years into the following roles:

• junior consultant designer;
• senior consultant designer;
• team or unit director;
• board director of the company.

It is possible to specialise in different areas of furniture design. For example, you might move from designing upholstered furniture to working on office chairs, or perhaps into a more retail-focused area. Opportunities also exist as a buyer for furniture associated with a range of stores, or on behalf of other client groups, such as the tourism and hospitality sectors, or private individuals.

If you are a designer working on a smaller scale, success will depend on a mixture of design skills, contacts, self-promotion, reputation, reliability, networking skills and profile.

Many designers choose to be self-employed, working from a studio or workshop. Some designers beginning their careers share studio space with other 'new starters' in the industry in order to divide costs and pool resources. Check with the Crafts Council  or the crafts officer of your local regional arts board (see Arts Council England , Creative Scotland , the Arts Council of Wales  or the Arts Council of Northern Ireland ) for lists of studios and information about funding. See also a-n: The Artists Information Company  for information useful for career development.

Some experienced furniture designers choose to move into other fields, such as curating, journalism, teaching and lecturing, where they can use their furniture design knowledge.