The Furniture Makers’ Company is the furnishing industry’s charity, with a mission to drive excellence in design and manufacture, support those in need within the industry, and to educate the next generation to create a skilled and talented workforce for the future.
This begins with schoolchildren – by working directly with schools, the organisation can build confidence in young people and inspire them to consider a career in an exciting and rewarding industry.
In 2014, a pilot scheme was launched with sponsorship from corporate members BrightHouse and B&Q to give 450 secondary schools a copy of the V&A published book Modern British Furniture – design since 1945 by design historian Lesley Jackson, as a prize for their best GCSE or A Level Design & Technology student.
The pilot was so successful that this year, over the next few weeks, the organisation will send out another 900 books to schools throughout the UK to reward young talent and inspire their future learning and career choices. This year there has been support from the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation, in addition to generous sponsorship from many of The Furniture Makers' Company's members and industry companies, such as CPS Wales and NEJ Stevenson, plus several of its corporate members - BrightHouse, Howdens, Community Playthings, Axminster Tools & Machinery and Blum.
Charles Vernon, chairman of the Education and Training Committee at The Furniture Makers’ Company, says: “As the furnishing industry’s charity, we want to encourage new talent to enter our industry and have put in place an extensive education programme to help create a powerful workforce for the future.
“Our Schools Design Prize is one of several education initiatives we run and we hope that many of the schoolchildren involved are inspired to go into further education or training within the furnishing industry. We are delighted to have such excellent support and sponsorship from so many in the furnishing industry.”
