Gain exciting work experience in one of Cape Town’s most prestigious design firms and develop your creative, technical and client service skills. Our design internships provide you with the opportunity to work on original and dynamic projects whilst benefitting from professional mentorship and training. This is the perfect chance for you to use your creativity and take inspiration from the colours and culture of Cape Town!
Best interior design internships in Cape Town? We think so. We pride ourselves on delivering customised internship placements and on the ground support that offer life-changing, valuable professional experiences.
Pursing an internship in interior design allows you to apply your technical and creative skills to exciting design projects in a professional work environment. Our customised internships give you the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge in client services, evaluation of spaces, budgeting, designing and purchasing of furnishings, proposal development, liaising with subcontractors and specialised software use, whilst using your artistic faculty to contribute to experienced design teams.
Cape Town is bursting with design inspiration and it is the perfect place to build up your professional portfolio of work!
Read on for a full overview of the best interior design internships in Africa.
Here's what you can expect from the programme in a nutshell!
Of course, the list is much longer - but these are the skills our intern alumni reported back that they grew in the most!
We managed to grab some detailed interviews from previous interns on this programme, you can click on them below.
What might your programme in this career field look like? Here's how it has typically shaped up for our alumni!
Arrival & orientation. Introduction to Cape Town, your accommodation and your internship host organisation and colleagues.
Get stuck into your interior design internship placement and establish yourself with your organisation. Come to our free social events.
Enjoy a great work-life balance, getting out and about to see the sites alongside working hard on your internship.
Pick up more responsibility in your internship as you prove your capability. Enjoy regular activities in Cape Town outside of work. Come to another social!
Now you're flying (metaphorically) at work, you'll be more and more autonomous. Expect to pick up even more challenges!
Internship is going swimmingly, now go and do something crazy like swimming with some great white sharks or abseiling off of a mountain.
Regularly enjoy the benefits of Cape Town and at work, gather materials needed for portfolio (e.g. references from us and provider).
Putting the finishing touches to your internship and gathering feedback from us and your internship provider for use in your academic / career portfolio. Finalise paperwork for university (if needed)
Here's what others said when they applied. Some of these people came just for this career area, some mixed it with other career fields too...
What makes our internship programmes a worthwhile investment? Here's a swift overview of what you can expect!
We have two primary programmes to suit your needs. In some instances we also offer virtual placements.
You can come for as long as you need without paying any extra fees.You'll receive the same level of support.
We are 100% on your side. We guarantee every aspect of your trip with unrivalled promises.
Need to focus on a precise niche or two? No problem! Your programme can focus on your specialist areas.
We'll help you engage with the culture and personal benefits of being in a foreign country.
Save on travel and accommodation costs, pay a far lower fee. All while building your professional network.
We will handle all aspects of academic accreditation, including direct liaison with your tutors and academic staff.
We will write full reference letters for your placement(s) to optimise future employers' first impression of you.
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Here are some current or recent internship job opportunities in this career area. We do not publish all openings - so please contact us to hear about others.
Get in touch.
We have worked very hard to streamline our process to make your experience easy, fun and highly rewarding personally and professionally. Flick through the steps below, or read about our process in more detail.
Getting your dream internship all starts with you saying hello! Just pop your details into our enquiry form and we'll reach out to schedule a conversation with you that we call a 'discovery call'.
In your discovery call, you can ask us any questions you still have. We'll talk about your options in the career fields you've told us you're interested in to help you imagine your placement and decide if our service is right for you.
If everything sounds good to you, complete your application to put into words your dream programme. This forms the basis of the 'design' of your customised placement and will be the primary framework against which we validate potentially suitable opportunities.
We maintain a large and varied network of the best organisations in Cape Town. We will identify the best potential fits for your programme goals and preferences and reach out on your behalf to assess those organisations for suitability (learn about their current projects and initiatives).
Once you've confirmed which placement offer you prefer, we'll start helping you plan the rest of your trip. We'll book your accommodation, help with your travel arrangements and provide extensive advice and information on how to get ready for your time in Cape Town. Your Bridging Gaps mentor will be on hand to make sure you're fully prepared for your placement.
Finally, every member of our team will move mountains to make sure you get what you came for and MORE! It's essential to us that you're safe, you're learning and growing in confidence and developing the most important skills for your future career.
Our programme fees are shown below, for a full description of our service offering please click to view the programme or a side-to-side comparison.
Comprehensive support
Visa & travel assist
Accommodation assistance
Social events & excursions
... and lots more
We've answered some specific questions about this internship programme below.
As an interior design assistant you can expect to shadow other professionals in the industry, assist in assessing client goals and project requirements, space visualisation and sketching, sourcing materials and furnishings, client services and more.
Whether you're an up and coming interior designer or already established in your career, visiting or living in a design-forward city will provide you with great creative inspiration. Some cities around the world that are currently renowned for being design-forward cities include; Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, Nairobi, and Seoul. The beautiful city of Cape Town was awarded and named a UNESCO city of design as the colours and culture of the city provide amazing design inspiration.
A bachelor's degree is usually required as classes include important topics such as; drawing, computer-aided design and more. Depending on the country and location, you may also need to apply for an interior design license/certificate. When entering the industry you will likely need to undergo an internship or apprenticeship to gain relevant experience and learn from other professionals in the field.
The simplest way to get interior design experience is to become an assistant to a well-established designer within the industry or to participate in an internship at a design firm. These types of experiences will allow you to gain important insights into the industry and build your own portfolio of work which you can use to approach potential clients.
The internship organisation you work for depends on your own personal and professional goals, as well as your previous experience. We base our placement search completely on your interests and goals and then it is at the discretion of the local firms we contact, whether they offer you an internship or not. We work with some of Cape Town’s most prestigious interior design firms that offer a variety of exciting internship opportunities.
Interns can expect to be involved in a variety of projects and tasks depending on their internship organisation. Some responsibilities you could have as an intern include; budgeting, sketching, proposal development, meeting with clients to find out their project requirements, collaborating with contractors, purchasing furnishing, colour balancing and planning spaces using specialised software.
Not necessarily. The firms we collaborate with look at a lot more than just experience, they are looking for people that will help them achieve their goals. So, demonstrate good character and skills, and you’ll be in with a great chance of being selected. Previous experience and some practice using design software would be beneficial though.
We collaborate with a wide range of local design companies here in Cape Town and you can choose from a variety of exciting internships including; graphic design, web design, fashion design, fine art, prop design, animation or product design.
Send it to us below and we will answer ASAP.
Hi, we're really sorry but we are no longer offering internship opportunities in this career field. However, we wish you the best with your search.