Why Learn Upholstery With Us?
At the Oxford School of Upholstery we pride ourselves in offering courses that are creative, practical and focused on enabling you as students to reach your full potential as an upholsterer.
The school is partnered with Oxford Upholstery which is based on the same site. Learning upholstery with us will give you the unique opportunity of experiencing the working life of an upholstery workshop, seeing the variety of work that comes in and learning how jobs are progressed.
Students at our upholstery school have access to all the upholstery workshop’s fabric books from the major fabric houses and will see the new collections as they come in. You will be able to experiment with the variety of fabrics and finishes available to create pieces in your own style.
We run course weeks throughout the year and operate flexible start dates. This means you can join your course on any week in any month of the year and you can split professional courses into weekly or fortnightly chunks to fit with your other commitments. Working in this way enables students to see how the upholstery skills they are learning transfer onto other items of furniture. Students receive individual guidance and support so they can work at their own pace.
Upholstery Courses
We offer upholstery courses for students of all abilities whether you are a complete beginner wanting to learn upholstery for your home, friends and family, a one off home project, or if you are someone wanting to take it to a professional level and start your own upholstery business.
Our Courses
One-Week Workshop
Sprung seat project for one week upholstery course
This one-week intensive workshop is designed to introduce you to the techniques, tools and materials of traditional upholstery, in a fun and relaxing environment. By the end of the week, you’ll leave with a beautiful new piece of furniture you can show off to your friends and family.
To find out more about our one-week courses, just click here.
Professional Courses
We offer two separate and very different pathways to learning upholstery at the School. Please click on the link at the end of each pathway for more information.
Pathway 1 Ten Steps to Upholstery Success
Oxford School of Upholstery is unique, working in partnership with Oxford Upholstery we have over 20 years of upholstery experience and have used this to identify the furniture most commonly commissioned in our upholstery workshop. With this information, we have developed a comprehensive programme of upholstery that is dynamic, creative and market led, focusing on your needs as a developing upholsterer and equipping you with the skills to work.
This twenty week, project based course provides students with a dynamic creative
Regency Style Chaise Longue
training that will guide you through the techniques and skills required to approach all upholstery challenges with confidence. From a simple upholstered stool to a Victorian armchair or sofa, this course covers both modern and traditional upholstery. Click on the PDF Link to see the full curriculum.
A uniquely complete training.
The only UK course that offers an immersive experience that is focused on preparing students for a career in the upholstery trade either through employment or setting up your own enterprise. Having retrained from a career in nursing, I know it can be done, I know the pitfalls and the shortcuts and I am happy to share my experience.
I only wish this course had been available to me when I retrained, it would have saved me 3 years of initial struggle and strife!!
Duration 80 days (20 x 4 day weeks Mon-Thu) this can be completed in a minimum of 20 weeks consecutively or it can be taken in weekly or fortnightly chunks through the year.
Pathway 2 Simply Modern Upholstery Course
Cocktail Chair project for Comprehensive Simply Modern Upholstery Course
The Oxford School of Upholstery has recently launched the Simply Modern Upholstery Course. This will give students a good grounding in the techniques of modern upholstery enabling them to work independently in their own workshop. The Simply Modern Upholstery Course is a unique opportunity to follow a comprehensive programme learning the valuable skills necessary to upholster modern furniture.
What if I don’t have a piece of furniture?
There’s no need to worry as we can help you source a particular piece of furniture. We also have accounts with the major fabric houses and can offer our students at a 10% discount off the retail price.
