Day in the life of
Furniture Designer – Mike Cooper
My typical day involves firstly talking to the customer to ensure that I have all of the details that they would like for their new piece of furniture, this will be combined with me sending them updates on how their designs are going and our plans for the day allowing them to see the full story of the table coming to life as well as being able to interject at any point with new ideas.
From this point I will take the table in whatever form it is and work on moving it toward the next step, this can be a range of things from sanding and cutting to creating bounds and adding epoxy resin. After each step, I will take photos to be shown to the customer and then finally once the table is completed we will take the final photos and hand the table over to someone to sort out the logistics and get the table to the customer as we deal with both local and nationwide customers.
Although I love the hands on part of my job it is also essential that I keep a level head and do not rush any steps, I need to be very patient and take my time to ensure that I take correct measurements and make very detailed and accurate cuts alongside being patient with things such as the epoxy resin as it can be very hard to do well and therefore takes a lot of practice and focus to get right.
Pros
The biggest pro of my job is working with the customers, each item I craft involves me closely working with the customer to shape their vision into reality down to the last detail. This means that each item exposes me to someone with a completely new and interesting character.
As well as working alongside them being able to take other peoples ideas and work with them to create something that is truly unique before I started creating tables and other pieces of furniture I had no idea how creative people could be. No two tables that I create are the same, every customer has their own unique take on every feature from the base, shapes, and colors to even the finest of details like the style of drawer handles and shape of the legs. Being able to work on something completely new and unique every single day ensures that my job is never dull, I am always learning new methods and techniques to achieve looks that I would never have thought possible without the customers input.
Cons
Due to how labor intensive the job is minor injuries can have a huge impact on my ability to work, this can cause a lot of pressure when trying to work within deadlines for clients. It can also mean that when I finish work I am much more tired than I might have been at a less labor intensive job. Though this can be seen as a con I enjoy working with my hands and creating the customers vision from nothing, which is even more rewarding when we finally provide the customer with their new table.
Work area
