Spend a year abroad … in Kuchl! (part 1)

Have you ever heard of Kuchl before? Well, I hadn’t when I decided to go there for 10 months and attend the school for interior design, commonly known as EBS (Einrichtungsberaterschule). The school is actually quite famous in Austria although Kuchl is everything but a megacity. It has roughly 6,600 inhabitants and probably the same number of cattle. From September to June is “high season” and there are about 30 EBS students who brave the clean, country air and face the wide, open land—of which there’s plenty. Despite its bucolic appearance Kuchl is the hub of the Austrian furniture world.

Well, I was one of those 30 brave heroes who attended the EBS in Kuchl. I braved all the fresh country air and faced the wide, open land and I can now share my experiences with you. That’s why I thought I’d dedicate my first two blog entries to Kuchl, a village so small yet so full of great experiences.

When I graduated high school in 2005, I had two options in mind: either go to university and become a vet or attend the EBS in Kuchl. Since this was also the time when those interior design shows were all over television, my decision was easy. You should probably know that I didn’t have any experience with interior design or furniture beforehand. I loved geometry in school but I had never drawn any floor plans before and I wasn’t a talented artist (my drawings were never hung on the fridge when I was a kid) and couldn’t even draw a straight line without a ruler.

Incidentally, practicing how to draw straight lines is what we did for the first two weeks; obviously I was not the only one with limited drawing skills.

And once you’ve learned to draw a ruler-straight line without a ruler, you do a lot of sketching; you start with single lines (again) and simple forms, then you sketch concrete objects such as fruits or your pencil case, just so that you develop a feeling for shapes and shadows. Finally you’ll be able to sketch abstract ideas—your furniture concepts. Then of course, you also learn how to illustrate those sketches with chalk, felt pens or colored pencils.

In addition to the drawing/sketching you also learn the basics in bathroom design, kitchen design, differences between certain kinds of wood, shapes and colors, textile design, computer-based planning, accounting (yay!), marketing, so that you can successfully sell your design concepts. Luckily enough, the school has many partnerships with furniture companies, so you practice on authentic catalogues and materials. And the people teaching there really know what they are talking about: they are usually architects or designers. It’s really a crash course in interior design—a very intense one. But it’s really worth the effort and the money.

It's a private school which means that you have to pay tuition, €260 each month. Also, there's no student housing. You stay in private homes of local residents (this adds to the comfy country atmosphere). The price of rooms varies but it's usually about €220 per month.

If you’re thinking about going to EBS, keep in mind that there’s also an entrance exam, usually around April/May. They test your sketching skills, your feel for colors, your practical thinking ability and everything else they want to cram into their 4-hour exam. And yes, you do have to pass the exam in order to be admitted to the school. And no, they don't give second chances.

But don’t be scared. Everybody who has ever attended EBS will agree on this one thing: if you are willing to commit yourself fully for those 10 months, it offers great education.

And there’s one other thing that graduates will forever bring into connection with Kuchl: drama baby, drama!

Read part 2 to find out why.