A two year, five day a week comprehensive course in cabinet making. The only course of its kind in London taught by a team of industry-experienced tutors, most of whom learnt their trade at the College too.
- Workshop and study based programme
- Drawing, design and marking out of furniture pieces in wood
- Making a range of furniture pieces including cabinets, chairs, tables and turned pieces
- Use of hand tools and powered hand tools
- Use of a range of woodworking machines
- Complex joinery and furniture making techniques
- Wood turning
- Veneering and laminating
- Finishing and polishing
- Participating in national exhibitions
- Age 19 + required for enrolment
The Furniture Design & Making Diploma is an intensive and rigorous 2-year programme structured to provide students with the skills and knowledge to progress towards a professional career in furniture making.
The programme brings together the range of skills such as joinery, wood machining, wood turning and furniture making. These accredited elements will enable students to operate to a professional standard. A strong emphasis on developing competent and confident woodworking skills – using both traditional hand tools and modern timber processing machinery – will provide students with the technical knowledge to start designing and making their own furniture items as they progress further through the course.
Taught by experienced and highly skilled tutors the course also draws on the skills and knowledge of nationally recognised furniture makers and designers and in addition, throughout the course, visits will be made to furniture workshops, exhibitions etc.
The main accredited elements of the programme are:
- Level 2 Diploma in Bench Joinery
- Association of Woodturners Level 2 Certificate in Woodturning
- City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma in Furniture Design & Making
- City & Guilds Assured Level 3 Advanced Programme of Fine Woodwork (BCC)
The Furniture Design & Making course delivers a progressive development of skills, knowledge and abilities over a two year (six term) period. In terms one and two students focus on bench joinery skills and work towards completion of the level 2 diploma in bench joinery. Hand skills will be developed to a high level supported by training in the use of portable powered tools and fixed wood cutting machines. The following skills will be covered:
Maintenance and sharpening of tools.
Setting out and cutting of basic joints such as halvings, bridles and mortice & tenons.
Carcass and frame construction using rebates, grooves, mortice & tenons, dovetails etc.
Making a cabinet
Making a small stair
Making a door
The qualification will be achieved, in addition to the practical pieces, by the completion of study packs and on-line tests.
During term three students will complete a more complex cabinet project and consider the influence of classical and contemporary design in furniture making, before beginning to develop their own designs for construction in the second year of the course.
The College reserves the right to change aspects of the course
- City & Guilds Level 3 Furniture Design & Making
- Level 2 Bench Joinery
- Ability to attend 5 days per week programme
- Completion of Maths and English initial assessment
- Commitment to and strong interest in furniture making
- You MUST be 19+ years of age
- 2 years, 5 days per week (37 weeks per year)
- The annual fees for Year 1 2024/25 and Year 2 2025/26 are £13,750 per year
- Applications for scholarships can be submitted to help support fee costs
Each year’s fees are payable in three instalments at the beginning of each term
- Into employment/self-employment
For further information please contact admissions@thebcc.ac.uk or why not attend one of our open days
