Industry-Inspired Learning Behaviors in Furniture Design Education for Non-Design Background Students

Vocational higher education increasingly enrolls students from diverse educational backgrounds, creating challenges in developing industry-ready furniture design competence. This study examines how industry-inspired learning behaviors support competence development among students without prior design-related education. Using an applied case-based explanatory approach, institutional records of 202 students enrolled between 2018 and 2022 were analyzed, with 77.72% originating from non-design-related high schools. Learning activities incorporated manufacturing-oriented practices, including SOP-based design processes, constraint-driven tasks, iterative revisions, continuous feedback, and full-scale 1:1 furniture prototyping. Competence was validated through professional certification, internship performance, prototype documentation, and recruitment outcomes. The findings show that students successfully produced production-ready, material-efficient furniture designs and demonstrated satisfactory workplace performance. Recruitment before graduation further confirmed employer recognition of their competencies. The study concludes that structured, industry-inspired learning effectively develops transferable furniture design competence and supports workforce readiness in vocational higher education.