Furniture Design – Brief to Blueprint | Owain Harris

If you want to design and build your own furniture, you need both design techniques and practical planning skills.  This class focuses on equipping you with both.  Using sample design briefs and case studies as a starting point,  you will learn how to evaluate and balance scale, form, and function as they develop you pieces using various drawing and modeling techniques.

Key Learning Points

• Design ideation & sources of inspiration
• Sketching and drawing techniques
• Intro to design and drawing tools:
• French curves, drawing bows, T-square, compass, adjustable triangle
• Building scale models
• Building full-scale mockups using cheap materials — cardboard, MDF, foam etc
• Creating plan & elevation shop drawings
• Exploration of materials, hardware, embellishment, and finishes
• Creating cut lists
• Estimating cost and time

This class is for Beginners to Advanced students who want to start building furniture pieces of their own design.

TOOLS NEEDED:  Legal size sketch pad, good drawing pencil

MATERIALS NEEDED:  None

See Cancellation Policy

Note to CERTIFICATE STUDENTS

If you are a Certificate student, this class is a prerequisite course for the Capstone Project Class.  The piece for the Capstone class should use the following parameters as a guide.

• The combined width, height, and depth of the piece must be less than 75” (W+H+D= less than 75”)
• A door or a drawer, probably not both
• A minimum of two types of traditional joinery
• Thoughtful use of wood species, cut and grain
• A minimum of one embellishment or detail (carving, pyrography, texture, color,
• Inlay, marquetry, contrasting wood species, use of additional materials, etc)
• A curved element — either cut from solid wood or a bent lamination
• If your design involves a door, traditional morticed butt or knife hinge
• A hand-applied finish (shellac, oil, Osmo, Rubio, et al)