Furniture Design at RISD offers an intensive immersion in materials research and exploration in the process of making furniture and objects. Students investigate some of the most important questions facing designers today—from how to take advantage of changing technologies and new materials, to how to respond to variable economic conditions and evolving lifestyles.

Furniture Design majors are encouraged to experiment with a wide range of materials and approaches while focusing on human factors and sustainable, responsible design. Graduates go on to become thinker/makers who follow a variety of paths, from launching their own businesses making furniture and/or other objects to working as commercial product designers, teaching, running galleries and more.

"In Furniture Design students engage in object making. A design process that incorporates making creates fundamentally different outcomes, original concepts and innovative thinking. In learning to design through the practice of making, our students understand how physical objects shape our perceptions—and this enables them to create richer experiences for the user."Lothar Windels, department head