Furniture carpenter

JOB

A furniture carpenter works on building, repairing and renovating old furniture and fittings, as well as, for example, making theatrical backgrounds, props or fittings for ships. Furniture carpenters often work based on the ideas and project descriptions of designers or according to their own drawings. Furniture carpentry is a certified trade.

As a furniture carpenter, you could work in a workshop, in custom construction and repair, on a construction site or in consulting and sales in a furniture store. Carpenters work a lot by hand, but there is also specialized machine work, for example in computer-controlled carpentry machines.

Main tasks

• assessing the need for maintenance or alterations to furniture and wooden interiors
• building general home and office furniture
• assembling construction parts, veneer work, glueing, grinding and finishing items
• advising on the choice of materials and working methods
• making plate and lattice furniture, seating furniture, exterior doors and windows
• building and installing fittings, interior doors and wooden stairs
• cladding floors, walls and ceilings indoors

Competence requirements

Furniture carpenters evaluate the maintenance and repair of furniture and therefore need to know the main properties and effects of materials and be able to choose the right material at any given time. They also work with surface materials such as varnishes and dyes, so it is good to know the basics of colours and morphology. It is also important to be able to read drawings of individual furniture and be able to draw up solutions and finishing – freehand or with drawing programs.

Study

Furniture carpentry is taught at Fjölbrautaskóli Norðurlands vestra and Tækniskólinn, but in addition, undergraduate studies in construction and civil engineering are taught elsewhere. The average duration of study is four years, divided into five semesters of theoretical studies and 72 weeks of internship.

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