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Workplaces job opportunities and demand for housing assembly's three specialties
Upholstery is not a mass-produced trade — there is not a skilled worker on every street corner. This means that companies that need your skills often find it difficult to find them. A small trade with steady demand is a good combination if you want a craft where you are difficult to replace.
Where you end up depends very much on your speciality. Upholsterers work at upholstery workshops, with furniture manufacturers and with furniture restoration. Automotive trimmer-makers find work at workshops making car, bus, train and boat interiors as well as special vehicle outfitting. Interior decorators work in curtain shops and interior design and with measuring and installation in customers' homes or in commercial buildings.
Many in the trade end up with their own business or workshop. When you are skilled and have a couple of years of experience, you have both the craft and customer contact to stand on your own feet. It is one of the classic paths in installation: from apprentice to journeyman to master with your own sign on the door.
The trend towards repairing rather than throwing out plays well into the profession's hands. When people want an old armchair or an inherited sofa restored to like-new rather than buying new, it is precisely an upholsterer the job lands with. The growing interest in sustainability, quality furniture, and restoration can give the profession momentum in the years to come.
Because the trade is small, the supply of new skilled workers may have difficulty keeping up as older craftsmen retire. This gives good opportunities for you, who are willing to learn the trade thoroughly. Take your choice of specialty seriously, be open to relocating after the workshops that train, and build a name on good craftsmanship - then there is work to find.
“In a small trade you do not become a number in the crowd - you become the one the company calls because there are not ten others around the corner.”