An introduction to the Furniture, Furnishings and Interiors sector

The FFI industry is traditionally segmented into the following three sub-sectors:
Sector
Description

Domestic

Serving the public directly and through retail outlets

Office

Desks, seating, tables, window treatments and other items for the office environment. 

Contract

Furniture and Furnishings for public areas such as hotels and airports.

 

Each of these sub-sectors manufactures a variety of products.  The businesses that make up these sub sectors create a range of products which have a major impact on our quality of life.  The products they create can be designed for their functionality, for their looks, for comfort or any combination of the three.  Similar to other sectors, FFI has a number of different product groups and this section provides you with a brief overview of them all.  The product groups covered in the FFI sector are:

Product Group

Examples of Products

Upholstered Products

Settees, fireside, easy chairs, convertibles and unit section seating

Bedroom

Storage (wardrobes, dressing tables, cabinets, chests of drawers), unit and built in storage

Kitchen

Storage (wall units, cupboards) and built-in units (base and sink units) cimices, pelmets, work surfaces,  plinths etc

Dining Room/Living Room

Seating and tables, wall storage, sideboards, dressers, bookcases, cocktail and china cabinets, coffee and occasional tables, television and entertainment cabinets.

Beds and Bedding

Upholstered bases for mattresses, divans, wooden or metal bed ends, bedsteads, divan headboards and bed heads, bunk beds, mattress supports and mattresses.

Soft Furnishing

Blinds, curtains, valances, swags and tails, pelmets, bedspreads, bed base valances, four poster bed curtains and drapery, bed corona curtains and drapery, table covers, cushion covers.

The FFI Industry Labour Market & Skills Analysis report, completed by Proskills in February 2008 reported that job roles fall within these product groups:

  • Cabinet Making/Hand Crafted Furniture
  • Designer
  • Finishing/Polishing (including French Polisher)
  • Production (Manufacturing/Assembly/Installation)
  • Restoration
  • Soft Furnishing
  • Upholstery
  • Wood Machinist

Each of these product areas employs individuals who have the opportunity to grow with the company and become highly experienced within their career.  The relevant training can be accomplished through a wide range of work based or college based qualifications, these are explained further on in this booklet. 

Some FFI manufacturers can create products as a bespoke offer, to cover an individual customer’s requirements, some may specialise in producing furniture and furnishings for cruise ships, while others develop new ranges of furniture that will be mass produced for sale to the general public.  Either way all products need to be designed and manufactured to a consistently high quality. 

In the UK around 75% of the FFI sectors businesses are micro companies that employ less than 10 staff.  However, there are also some large businesses that employ many hundreds of staff.  Large companies within the industry include; Ercol Furniture Limited, Havelock Europa, Hypnos, Mereway and the Morris Furniture Group.

With globalisation and the growth of businesses using the Internet, UK furniture manufacturers are now competing with companies that manufacture products overseas, where overheads can often be much cheaper.  This has led to high levels of imported furniture from countries outside Europe, thus forcing many FFI businesses to adapt their business models and invest in research to develop new materials and access new markets.  Others have moved into restoration work to secure jobs and maintain growth and business order levels.  Trade forecasts show the UK industry is expected to grow as demand for new housing continues to increase and refurbishment orders are also expected to increase sales. 

As part of these processes many furniture manufacturers are now training their staff in different disciplines, so they can work more flexibly and complete different tasks.  This has resulted in many FFI employees now having multi-skilled and capable of completing more than one professional task.  Some examples of how this works are Frame Makers that have originally been trained in Wood Machining or Soft Furnishers starting their careers as Sewing Machinists.

 


 

For further information please see www.proskills.co.uk, email info@proskills.co.uk or call 01235 432 032.