Furniture and Product Design

Furniture and product design sits at the intersection of craft, engineering, and visual culture. It is a discipline concerned with how objects are conceived, made, and experienced: how they function, how they are produced, how they relate to the body and to space, and what meanings they carry. Good design in this field requires equal measures of creative imagination, material understanding, and practical technical skill, and the best furniture and product designers bring all of these to bear in work that is both useful and beautiful.

This extended four-year degree at Northumbria University includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement opportunities, making it one of the most professionally and internationally engaged programmes of its kind. You will work across materials, including wood, metal, plastics, and composite materials, developing your understanding of their properties, their production methods, and their environmental implications. You will design and make objects at various scales, from individual pieces to product ranges, using both traditional craft methods and digital tools including CAD and CNC fabrication.

The year abroad exposes you to different design cultures and manufacturing contexts, while the sandwich year places you in a professional studio or design company where you will work on live briefs.

Graduates from this programme pursue careers as furniture designers, product designers, set designers, prop makers, and design consultants, working for design studios, manufacturing companies, retailers, theatre and film productions, and heritage organisations. Many set up their own practices, combining studio work with teaching, consultancy, or commissions. The combination of craft skill, design thinking, and professional experience makes graduates distinctively equipped for the making industries.

Postgraduate study in product design, furniture design, material culture, or design history is available for those who want to develop specialist knowledge or pursue research.