Career scope in furniture design

In furniture and spatial design, we work generally with the development of furniture and fixtures in sync with interior design. We plan spaces for homes, workplaces, institutions, urban spaces, exhibition and presentation design.

Interior design and furniture is like a cultural phenomenon to designing spaces ,which act as a setting for lifestyle and the statement of identity, from the conceptual plan to the solid development of structure.

Aspiring furniture designers must learn to work with many applications; they need to develop a clear professional, theoretic and creative foundation with complete knowledge of the procedures, techniques and expressions associated with the design of space and furniture. Good furniture designers must develop methods that enable them to work in an experimental, independent and artistic manner.

Furniture and space design must amalgamate aesthetics, culture, history, procedures, manifestation, material, purpose and visualisation. The aesthetics and ergonomics remain as essential constituents in the manner of expression of this discipline.

A larger perspective and reinforcement of your ability to analyse, observe and explore is given by components like culture and history.

The process of design engages the creative and instinctive aspects of the design procedure as well as functional and methodological aspects with tactical design, principled considerations and significance for society.

An in-depth knowledge of the role of materials and technology with purposeful properties and aesthetic possibilities is a significant requirement from a furniture designer. Furniture and space design originate from the key areas of furniture design.

Construction of furniture without plans is nothing new or unheard of, but it is never advised. It’s better to set out into a project with a good plan. This helps you to purchase the precise quantity of lumber and it would help to prevent many cumbersome issues early in the process.

A design can start with a sketch on a paper, but finally it must be converted into something that can be used for creation of measured pieces.

There are a number of methods to go about sketching, while other computer aided design (CAD) programs are more and more popular among professionals and hobbyists for furniture designing.

These programs are available in a range of prices, from low to high, based on the competency levels of software. They are meant for consumer friendly desktop applications to the industrial-grade applications.

As users have been ever increasing, so are the capabilities of these software programs with enhancements and newer versions. Most of these programs offer to render designs in 3D or colour parts with wooden grain. If you are reluctant to use CAD programs, a pencil and paper approach is always available.

It is very important for a furniture designer to give due consideration to form, function, and joinery. A design that looks  nice constitutes only one part of the process, whereas stability and strength are also other key factors.

While designing a custom furniture item, it is necessary that you select joinery that is sturdy enough to support its intended use. Like, a chair built with a fragile seat-to-leg joinery is possibly not something you will like to sit on. Think about the purpose of a piece of furniture and ensure that the design accommodates that.

Set of rules

A basic set of principles is always followed in furniture design, like the golden ratio, a mathematical formula occurring naturally which has been used to design everything from the Parthenon to the highboy. These formulae can help you to get started, but they shouldn’t be the guiding force in the process of design.

In case of any doubt, mock it up as sometimes it is hard to clearly recognise a furniture piece from its drawing. However a three-quarter view may not be enough to tell the whole story. Therefore, full size or to-scale mock ups can be an amazing visual aid to assist you refine your design.

Today the scope of furniture design is wide as significant developments have taken place in the areas of new materials. Digital and analog equipment, as well as tools and production conditions have improved.

The design today has to compliment new lifestyles, work conditions and the type of communication signals expected from design of space and furniture.