Schools related to furniture making offer different levels of training program. The school you choose will depend on the program level you have an interest in pursuing. Some furniture makers learn the trade entirely through apprentice on-the-job training without participating in a formal school curriculum. Those who recognize their interest as early as high school may start their training by enrolling in a technical, vocational or trade high school with programs related to a furniture-making career and enter the profession directly from high school. However, an aspiring furniture maker may also pursue a fine woodworking associate degree at some community colleges. Furniture designers, in contrast, may encounter a requirement to hold an undergraduate degree in the industrial design discipline. Another category of the furniture profession deals in the upholstering aspects of the furniture profession.
The North Bennett School in Boston offers furniture and cabinetmaking programs. Bates Technical College located in Tacoma, Washington, offers both a certificate of competency and an associate degree level training program in this discipline. Penn Foster School offers an online, or distance learning program. You can also find additional associate level degrees related to furniture making careers at Red Rocks Community College with campuses located in Arvada and Lakewood, Colorado; and at Pima Community College located in Tucson, Arizona.
Some schools that offer training programs for upholstery include Alabama's John C. Calhoun State Community College located in Tanner, California's Palomar College in San Marcos and North Carolina's Guilford Technical Community College with campuses in Jamestown, Greensboro and High Point: all as described at the Degree Directory website.
Furniture makers such as woodworkers can expect their career field to grow at a rate lower than the average of all professions, at 6 percent from the interval from 2008 to 2018. Furniture upholsterers had a slightly higher growth rate at 7 percent, as indicated at the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Furniture woodworker professionals had a median hourly rate of $13.93 and upholsterers a median hourly wage of $13.94, also according to the BLS website.