How to become a furniture restorer - Explore Jobs and Paths

Furniture restorers conserve and restore modern and antique furniture. Conservation involves making sure that items keep their original features. Restoration may involve using new materials to protect and update existing features. Your work as a furniture restorer could range from simple tasks such as re-gluing parts which have fallen off, to completely rebuilding a piece of furniture, including making missing components. Your tasks would typically include:

• deciding on the best way to conserve or restore the piece of furniture
• agreeing with the client the work to be done
• sourcing materials
• keeping photographic and written records of projects
• using techniques such as woodturning, veneering and marquetry (designs using small pieces of inlaid wood)
• mixing and applying colours and stains
• gilding, polishing and upholstering
• providing specialist information to colleagues and the public.

You would also need to keep up to date with developments in equipment and techniques. You may specialise in furniture of a particular type or period. As a self-employed restorer you would also have to market your work and deal with the administrative and financial tasks involved in running a business.

What qualifications and experience will employers look for?

This Furniture Restoration training course will give you an overview of the history of furniture making, and train you to develop the basic skills required to restore beautiful furniture pieces and antique furniture to their former state.

What further training and development can I do?

If you work for a museum or heritage site you may be provided with specialist training, and there may be opportunities to focus on particular types or periods of furniture. Joining professional bodies such as the IOC, BAFRA or the Guild of Master Craftsmen will give you opportunities for networking and professional development, and a way of showing potential clients that you work to set quality standards. As a member of IOC, you can join their Professional Accreditation of Conservator-Restorers (PACR) scheme, which would assess your professional ability against set standards. Completing the PACR scheme could help your chances of finding work, as your details would be listed in the IOC register, which can be used by organisations and members of the public who are looking for reputable conservation or restoration services.