`More than fabric or fluff," is how Caragh MacCloskey describes interior design. Paperwork, mucky building sites, hauling material and hounding suppliers are also very much part of Caragh's job as an interior designer.

She works in Peter Johnson Interiors, one of the more prestigious design houses in Ireland, having put its stamp on work in the Herbert Park Hotel in Dublin and the K Club in in Co Kildare. MacCloskey says the job of a designer is varied and exciting and that she gets to meet a lot of people. She also says it is very difficult to get started.

"There just aren't many jobs," she says. "There are maybe only one or two places where they have a big operation and they can afford to have a lot of staff. But most people, even the bigger designers, would work from home by themselves." Most people, she explains, who want to get into interior design come out of a course and set up their own business. But the fabric sample books cost a lot of money and with a business comes a daunting financial responsibility which dissuaded her from heading down this route. MacCloskey left Alexandra College in Dublin and went to UCD to study English and history of art. "The arts degree gives you a good grounding, especially if you want to do something artistic that there really isn't a qualification for," she says. Although she had no definite plans after college she knew she wanted to do get into design, be it fashion, set or interior design.

After a few months in France waiting on tables, she heard about a FAS course in Finglas which offered interior design. "I was rejected on round one," she says, but was offered a place when someone on the course dropped out. "I can't draw and I always thought `well if you can't draw you can't be in this business'. It obviously is a major advantage but it certainly isn't as big as I thought it would be," she explains. Options on the course to learn technical drawing, colour boards and sourcing fabrics gave her vital skills which made up for any shortcomings. She was surprised to learn that FAS was offering a course which was so "fluffy" as she had normally associated FAS training courses with plumbing, electrical skills and more practical work. But it proved to be a very good option "and of course you got paid for it. "You couldn't really work, as the course was quite intensive."

The course lasted six months and at the end of it she had to do some work experience. She first of all went to New York to work with a big designer, "purely because I knew somebody", she adds. "It was great to see how the other half lives. He did designs for the US president," she says. When she came back to Ireland MacCloskey did one week's work experience with Peter Johnson and got to know the people who worked there.

After work experience she got word that the Sofa Factory was looking for people and rang them. She worked there on a temporary basis for three months and then was offered a fulltime job. Her work at the Sofa Factory was invaluable, she says, because she learned about fabric. "They have the biggest fabric library in Ireland." Her duties included advising customers on what sofas to buy, what fabric would be best in their houses and what colour would suit. Then one of the women she had worked with while at Peter Johnson's told her she was leaving. "I was confident I knew a lot about fabric but I thought `Peter Johnson - no way would I get a job there'," she says. She had been happy in the Sofa Factory but knew this was an opportunity she had to grab.

A YEAR on, she is very pleased with her job and sees it as an apprenticeship where she is still learning and moulding ideas. She designs the interiors of show apartments, people's houses, businesses or sometimes just helps clients pick out a fabric. It is a personable career as the larger jobs could take up to a year to do and she will meet the clients on many occasions and get to know them. This she finds a very appealing aspect to the work.

Is there anything difficult about the job? Chasing suppliers and the fear that a client won't like what she has done for them are not the more pleasant parts. But she hasn't had any unhappy customers so far and says if she does in the future and "if it's right and you know it's right, then you have to stick to your guns".