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Furniture makers use their craft skills to produce items, including chairs, tables, beds and kitchen cabinets.
You could work: evenings / weekends; on shifts
As a furniture maker, you could:
You'll work mainly with wood but you'll also use metals, plastics, fabrics and other materials.
You may need to wear protective clothing.
You could work in a workshop or in a factory.
You can get into this job through:
You could do a college course to get some of the skills needed for a trainee position with a company.
Courses include:
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
You can apply to do a Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship with a furniture manufacturing business. There are several to choose from, including:
You can also apply for a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship, such as:
You'll usually need:
You could apply directly for jobs if you have experience and qualifications in furniture or cabinet making, carpentry or upholstery.
You could join The Furniture Makers' Company or the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers for professional development training opportunities and to make industry contacts.
Find out more about how to become a furniture maker from My Furniture Career.
With experience, you could become a workshop supervisor or quality control manager. With more training, you might move into:furniture design; interior design; antique furniture restoration
In larger firms, you may have opportunities to work in estimating, retail buying, marketing or training.
You could also start your own business and specialise in creating bespoke hand-crafted pieces of furniture.