Sophia S December 15, 2021
Furniture designing is an art. Our history is full of art pieces created for the aristocracy and nobility by eminent furniture designers. Today, furniture designers are designing for mass productions and for the sake of functionality and fashion. The field of furniture designing is not restricted up to interior furniture designing but also includes exterior furnishing solutions.
Sarah is the head of human resources in a furniture manufacturing company located in Nottingham, UK. She is looking for a furniture designer who can join her company as an experienced furniture maker with a valid degree or diploma.
Therefore, she has prepared a list of the requirements and thinking of how to approach advertisement. Let’s help her how to hire and work with furniture designers in the UK.
Furniture Designing College Courses in the UK
To be a valid furniture designer, one has to have passed a diploma or degree course, and Sarah has to look at the CV of the candidate for the following college courses available in the UK.
| Levels | Name of Course | Entry Requirements | Colleges |
| Level 2 | Diploma in Carpentry and Joinery | 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent | Herefordshire, Ludlow, And North Shropshire College |
| Diploma in Furniture Making | |||
| Level 3 | Diploma in Wood Machining | 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent | Chichester College Group, Pulborough & Lincoln College, Newark. |
| T Level | Craft and Design | 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths | Activate Learning, Oxford |
Furniture Designing Apprenticeship Opportunity in the UK
Suppose, Sarah wants to hire a furniture designer apprentice, she has to consider the following roles and entry requirements for an intermediate and advanced apprenticeship.
| Levels | Rolls | Entry Requirements |
| For Intermediate Apprenticeship | Furniture Manufacturer Wood Product Manufacturer | GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent. |
| For Advanced Apprenticeship | Bespoke Furniture Maker Fitted Furniture Design Technician Advanced Furniture CNC Technician New Furniture Product Developer | 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths. |
What Skills & Knowledge You Should Look in Hire Furniture Designers
Sarah must look at the following skills and knowledge in a candidate for furniture designing or furniture making.
- Your designers must have a thorough knowledge of furniture design.
- They should pay enough attention to details.
- They must have manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination to work manually in preparing product models and samples.
- Knowledge and skills in designing/drawings and tools like CAD devices.
- 2D and 3D CAD designing and modeling skills.
- Knowledge of materials like wood, metal, and synthetic products like plastics for furniture manufacturing.
- Knowledge of maths and geometry.
- They should be good team players with a cooperative nature and good communication abilities.
- They must be accustomed to manufacturing production and processes
- They should have the ability to use various tools for production as well as repairing, and maintenance of machines.
- They must have the analytic ability to measure the quality of products and the performance of the workforce.
- They must be flexible and adaptive to work and upcoming tools and technologies.
- They should have capacities to deliver work on time and without missing quality.
- They must be commercially oriented to help run the business in profitable ways.
What Type of Job Rolls You Can Assign to Hire Furniture Designer
As a seasoned HR, Sarah was clear in her mind about what job roles she could be assigned to hire furniture design experts in her company. In due course, she has prepared a list in the following way.
| Job Title | Description |
| Furniture & Craft Designer | Creates prototypes and models for furniture production as per requirements. |
| Furniture Product Designer | Defines the specification of products. |
| Furniture Product Researcher and Innovator | Conduct market research and bring innovation to it. |
| Furniture Restorer or Conservator | Responsible for restoring antique furniture and conserving it. |
| Interior & Exterior Designers and Decorators | They translate clients’ imaginations into reality. |
What about the Salary of Furniture Designer in the UK?
It is a trivial or vital question for Sarah, so she collected data to make a feasible decision. Let’s see what she had done.
Sarah had found out that the average annual salary of an entry-level furniture designer in the UK is 20K GBP while for an experienced furniture maker, it is 38K GBP.
She also had taken pains to find out the picture of the US and similar economies.
She eventually concluded that the yearly salary for an entry-level furniture designer is 27K USD and for an expert, 84K USD. Thus, the average becomes 48K USD.
She also had to find out a tremendous growth in salary over the years.
She noted one thing based on the growth chart most US companies were solely or partially dependent on outsourcing their CAD work. It was a good hint for her and she found out that Shalin Designs in the UK is offering onshore outsourcing work that can meet the criteria prevailing in the UK and other European nations.
The next step she has taken is to find out what salaries are other niches in the same industry offer.
She had got a clue that manufacturing units were in second place while non-profits were on the top of the list.
Now, she seemed happy with her findings and went to management to discuss the matter further. She decided to present Shalin Designs as her choice of agency to hire furniture designers out of their talent pool without investing anything at the in-house level.
