Furniture Designer: Pros and Cons of the Profession

Each profession is necessary and important, and in order to get not only the result of labor, but also the pleasure of work, you need to know as much as possible about the type of activity you are interested in. Very popular specialists today are furniture designers who, through their efforts, create original pieces of furniture that can decorate any home.

Performing such work is not too difficult, but not everyone has the talent for this, but if you have a great desire to become a furniture designer, you need to learn about all the pros and cons of this profession.

Furniture production was launched a long time ago. The main objective of this activity was the manufacture of household items that greatly facilitated the existence and made it much more comfortable. Having standard tables, chairs and beds available, people had a desire to purchase original and beautiful pieces of furniture. Initially, beautiful designer furniture could be afforded only by noble people with extensive financial capabilities, but now everything is much simpler, and there are much more opportunities for buying such goods.

Depending on the direction of production, its staff can number from a dozen to hundreds of employees. A full-fledged furniture factory in its state should have such specialists as:

• designer;
• constructor
• joiner;
• painter;
• picker;
• collector;
• seamstress, cutter.

The furniture designer is developing a concept for a particular piece of furniture, using for this purpose his vision or wishes of clients.At a large enterprise, designers, technologists and designers are responsible for the process of creating new furniture, who together receive the most optimal version of the finished piece of furniture.

To be a successful furniture designer, it is advisable to get an appropriate education, but more important criteria are the natural data of a person. A good designer is distinguished by creativity, creative and artistic abilities, the ability to perceive the spatial relationship of objects and optimally select the color scheme. Thanks to the aesthetic taste and fresh look at a particular subject and project, the designer creates a new sketch, which is transferred to a computer, where work is carried out in 3D format, which allows to achieve the desired result.

The furniture designer performs a number of mandatory tasks while at his workplace. Among them are the following:

• desire to improve finished products;
• work on aesthetics and ergonomics of furniture;
• sketching using a variety of artistic and graphic methods and artistic design;
• timely and quality execution of orders received from customers;
• development of 3D models of various furniture items;
• discussion of the project with designers and technologists;
• consideration of operating principles, installation conditions and technical operation of developed products;
• control of the norms, technical conditions and standards of art and design developments available at the enterprise;
• maintaining design and technological documentation;
• study of the technical characteristics and properties of materials that are used in the design development process;
• control of patents and production standards;
• consideration of the procedure for conducting an art and design examination of finished projects, selection of criteria by which an aesthetic assessment of their quality is carried out;
• constant analysis of the development of the artistic design industry, which allows the use of modern technologies in production;
• delivery of the prepared project.

A qualified furniture designer must have the appropriate education, be able to use programs that allow you to see the furniture project before its manufacture, which makes it possible to correct defects before production begins.

A furniture design specialist should not only be gifted, but also prepared for all the nuances of the work that he may encounter. The most important skills of a furniture designer are:

• ability to work according to company standards and technologies;
• creating a sample of this or that product in the mind and the ability to transfer ideas to paper or to a computer;
• the ability to use design programs for the development of finished 3D projects;
• teamwork, allowing you to get a finished sample;
• development of color schemes and decorative elements of furniture;
• delivery of work;
• maintaining accompanying documentation.

To cope with all the tasks the designer needs knowledge from different industries. These are the foundations of economic theory, the organization of production, labor and management, the foundations of labor legislation, modern computer and art design programs.

In order to become a furniture designer, it’s advisable to take appropriate training at a university or college, where the main disciplines will be art design and visual arts. No less important subjects will also be mathematics and design. With the mastery of graphic design and computer design and programming, you can improve your knowledge and skills, becoming a more qualified specialist.

In the learning process, you can start creating your portfolio, which will be gradually replenished with new work, and by the time of employment there will already be something to show the employer. At the initial stage, it is desirable to create as many sketches as possible manually using only paper and a pencil, which will make it possible to improve the sense of space, learn how to plan and draw objects correctly.

Throughout the training and in the process of work It is important to study the projects of famous designers, to try to recreate them yourself in order to increase your arsenal and improve the knowledge base. Having received the necessary education and experience, you can look for a job in a furniture company or in a design company, choosing for yourself a specific direction or having a wide range of responsibilities.

A good furniture designer will always be in demand, and he can find a job in various fields of activity. In addition to working at a furniture company, where he can be a specialist in cabinet or kitchen furniture, a professional can work as a consultant on the development and design of furniture or as a designer of furniture products (if there is relevant experience).

A furniture designer can be part of an organization or work for himself, representing a private organization. The advantages of employment for an existing furniture company will be stability and a ready-made client base, which allows you to fully work in your field, without being distracted by organizational issues. The downside of this work can be considered a fixed fee and the need to carry out clearly defined projects according to the standards of the furniture factory.

To be able to freely create, you can open your own business, but then you will have to spend some time on financial and organizational issues, which will not allow us to fully concentrate on our main work.