Successful Student Industry Tour educates young people on the furnishing sector

Over 30 college and university students studying furnishing related courses at institutions around the UK enjoyed a four-day tour around six leading furnishing businesses last month (25-29 March).

The annual Student Industry Tour, which is sponsored by Festool and organised by The Furniture Makers’ Company, gives young people who are interested in pursuing a career in the furnishing sector a broad understanding of how it operates.

This year the students visited Corian distributor CD (UK) Ltd, tool manufacturer Festool, retailer Furniture Village, bed manufacturer Harrison Spinks, contract furniture maker Knightsbridge and foam manufacturer Vitafoam.

The students got to see inside factories, design offices and stores of some of the UK’s leading furnishing businesses, getting an understanding of sales, marketing, manufacturing and design.

David Woodward, junior warden at The Furniture Makers’ Company, said: “The students were impressive and clearly got a lot out of the experience. Thank you to our hosts who were brilliant and if this doesn’t convince the students that the furniture industry is the place to be I don’t know what will.”

One student who attended the tour said: “It is really nice to have a platform to meet other creatives, makers and people on the same page as you because a furniture design course is quite niche so it’s a great opportunity to meet a lot of other people with similar mind-sets.”

Phil Beckley of tour sponsor Festool said: “Supporting The Furniture Makers’ Company with the student tour is one of the highlights of the year for me. Being in a position to pass on as much knowledge as I can to the next generation of artisans is a privilege and I wish them every success in their chosen specialism.”