Upholsterer
Also called chairmaker, seat maker, chair maker
Upholsterers provide objects such as furniture, panels, orthopaedic devices, fixtures or vehicle parts with padding or soft covering. They can install, repair or replace the upholstery of objects with materials such as fabrics, leather, suede or cotton. Upholsterers install the webbings and springs necessary to cover the material.
What you'd do
Upholsterers and related workers · ILO- Discussing upholstery fabric, colour and style with customers and providing cost estimate for upholstering furniture or other items
- Making upholstery patterns from sketches, customer descriptions or blueprints
- Laying out, measuring and cutting upholstery materials following patterns, templates, sketches, or design specifications
- Installing, arranging and securing springs, padding and covering material to furniture frames
- Sewing upholstery materials by hand to seam cushions and joining sections of covering materials
- Sewing rips or tears in material, or creating tufting, using needle and thread
- Tacking, gluing or sewing ornamental trims, buckles, braids, buttons and other accessories to covers or frames on upholstered items
- Laying out, cutting, fabricating and installing upholstery in aircrafts, motor vehicles, railway cars, boats and ships
- Repairing raw hide covering of artificial limbs
- Renovating antique furniture using a variety of tools including ripping chisels, magnetic hammers and long needles
- Collaborating with interior designers to decorate rooms and coordinate furnishing fabrics
- Making quilts, cushions and mattresses
- Indoors
- On your feet most of the day
- Lots of contact with people
- Some freedom to decide
- Usually 40 hours a week
- Deadlines most weeks
- Varied tasks, little repetition
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
What does it pay?
Below averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,000 a month (Bulgaria) to €4,800 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among craft and related trades workers in the EU, women earn 26% less per hour than men. Craft and related trades workers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training in textiles (clothes, footwear and leather) is the usual route.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
Average task score 0.18 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 12 tasks
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for upholsterers and related workers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).