How to become an Interior Designer
Designs the interiors of homes, offices, hotels, inns, shops and other spaces.
Main tasks
- Understanding what the client wants and thinking about materials, colours, shapes and layouts close to their vision
- Preparing cost estimates and giving them to the client
- Expressing design ideas with sketches and collages
- Presenting interior proposals as design drawings or 3D CG to the client and getting approval
- Preparing construction drawings and specifications based on the design
- Checking production drawings, construction drawings and instructions
- Asking contractors to do work such as replacing wall coverings and placing furniture
- Overseeing interior fit-out work
- Meeting production and sales staff to come up with interior product designs
- Making models and prototypes of new furniture designs
- Trying out prototypes, improving them and deciding materials and colours
- Guiding quality control for mass-produced items
- Attending and checking the production of custom-made items
- Coordinating packaging and similar items
- Drawing up plans for renovating facilities
- Designing the interiors of ships, aircraft, buses, trains and other vehicles
- Designing shop fittings and similar items
- Designing lighting
- Preparing applications and other documents
- Managing production costs
- Visiting potential clients
Workers in this job say university or vocational college (senmon gakko) is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
No particular education or qualification is required to start, but people usually have studied architecture, fine art or interior design at university, a senmon gakko (vocational college) or similar. After gaining basic knowledge, you build practical experience on the job. It is said to take 10 years to become fully skilled. Once you have built a reputation, you may be able to go independent and set up your own office or studio. Some architects and industrial designers become interior designers part way through their careers. Holding the architect (kenchikushi) qualification in particular widens the work you can do and is an advantage. Other related qualifications include interior designer and interior planner, certified by industry bodies. Interior coordinator is also useful. Designing spaces and furniture needs a sharp sense of colour, shaping ability and spatial judgement. To make spaces that are easy to live in and things that are easy to use, you also need an interest in human behaviour and habits, and wide knowledge covering ergonomics, psychology, architecture and art.
Ways in
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Design. 専修学校 courses in デザイン (文化・教養関係) had 8,573 graduates in the 2024 school year, 3,712 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 一級建築士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 二級建築士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥5,395,800 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥326,500, and the middle half earn ¥266,100 to ¥421,500 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Designers
- 0.17 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
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Questions people ask
How do I become an Interior Designer?
No particular education or qualification is required to start, but people usually have studied architecture, fine art or interior design at university, a senmon gakko (vocational college) or similar. After gaining basic knowledge, you build practical experience on the job. It is said to take 10 years to become fully skilled. Once you have built a reputation, you may be able to go independent and set up your own office or studio. Some architects and industrial designers become interior designers part way through their careers. Holding the architect (kenchikushi) qualification in particular widens the work you can do and is an advantage. Other related qualifications include interior designer and interior planner, certified by industry bodies. Interior coordinator is also useful. Designing spaces and furniture needs a sharp sense of colour, shaping ability and spatial judgement. To make spaces that are easy to live in and things that are easy to use, you also need an interest in human behaviour and habits, and wide knowledge covering ergonomics, psychology, architecture and art.
How much does an Interior Designer earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥5,395,800 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Designers, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become an Interior Designer?
Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 46% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Design.
Will AI change the work of an Interior Designer?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026