Furniture Design (Concepts)

A large component of furniture design is in the conceptual stage. This is where furniture concepts and renderings are hatched and developed. Concepts are put to paper in the form of sketches. Typically, this is an iterative process with elements added or subtracted from previous sketches. Using this approach, a furniture design evolves and will ultimately form the basis for a scale model or prototype of a furniture piece. The conceptual stage of furniture design can be approached using traditional methods such as sketching the designs and then rendering the sketches or drawings. Another approach is to use a computer and CAD software to develop a design. I much prefer the traditional method as I can quickly generate furniture sketches in any scale. The rendering is accomplished through coloring in the elements of the furniture sketch or drawing.

An advantage to traditional pencil and paper sketching is that it is portable and can be performed anywhere. Often, an idea or concept for a furniture design comes to us and we need to quickly get it down on paper or risk losing the idea. A small sketch pad and pencil are the only tools necessary to ideate the vision or design. This allows us to visualize the design that was a few minutes ago only in our minds. We can then work to evolve the sketch or move on to another idea for a furniture design. It is this rapid and iterative process that is critical in ideating a furniture design. I will often convert a sketch into a drawing and then use CAD to create the components and joinery to be used in the furniture piece.

Sketching of furniture designs can be performed simply using a pencil and loose paper or a sketch pad. Practice creating straight lines without a ruler. Learn to use perspective in your sketches and drawings. 2-point perspective (second image) is ideal for most sketching although 1-point perspective does apply to small thumbnail sketches as seen in the first image. Rendering can be accomplished using colored pencils or a set of markers. Designing on paper resolves several issues included the aesthetic and proportions of the furniture. This topic is extensively covered in both my Furniture Design Course and Design to Making Class.