The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers is the City of London Livery Company of the British Furniture Industry. It was founded as a Guild in 1951 and was granted the Letters Patent of a Livery Company in 1963.
What we do is best summed up in the formal language of the first of our Objects -
'To foster the Craft and the Industry of Furniture Designing,
Making, Marketing and Retailing in the United Kingdom'
How do we do it? Largely through our Guild Marks and the Training Opportunities that we provide.
The Guild Marks reward quality and impart confidence. There are three categories: one is for the finest commissioned pieces of craftsman made furniture, the Bespoke Guild Marks. For manufacturing companies judged to be making furniture and beds to the highest standards, there are the Manufacturing Guild Marks. New this year is the Design Guild Mark for designers of manufactured furniture.
Our Training Opportunities usually consist of places on a tour for design students and on short courses for people at or near the start of their career in manufacturing or retail management. Details, for all three categories, and how to apply for places, are published on this site early each year. The tour and courses take place in the spring.
A third activity, also directly in tune with our Objects, is networking. As a modern Company we are a ‘closed shop’: membership is restricted to people in or connected with the furniture industry. Consequently, our social activities provide opportunities for discussion and the generation of new ideas across the whole spectrum of the furniture trade. It is this aspect of the Company that most attracts furniture people to join the Company.
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| Latest News |
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| A Statement in The House |
| Ian McCartney, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, was declared Furniture Parliamentarian of the Year by The British Furniture Confederation. "Bespoke" was the book presented to him by Margaret Miller, Master of the Furniture Makers Company, and "Bespoke" was the title of the accompanying exhibition of twenty of the finest pieces of bespoke furniture. More... |
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| Our New Master |
| The new Master - Margaret Miller - was installed at a ceremony in the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, on Monday, May 12 More... |
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| The first Design Guild Marks have been awarded |
| Click "More" for full details and images of the eleven Design Guild Marks which were announced recently. More... |
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