The Portrait of the Misunderstood Interior Designer

            Interior designers are usually seen as women that help people coordinate colors and picks out pillows. This is mainly because the public is not educated in what we really do. We can’t really blame them since things like HGTV, Youtube, and lack of regulations reinforce these stereotypes that you can wake up one morning and be an amazing interior designer. We are portrayed in a way that makes it seem like everything is pretty rugs and Fung Shui.

            Interior designers learn their skills through four years of schooling, two years experience under a licensed interior designer, and must take an exam to become licensed. Through this path, interior designers can create functional and aesthically-pleasing spaces that are created through research, psychology, and safety codes. While doing research on the image of interior design on the image, I discovered that we are portrayed in a way that makes us seem unnecessary. If the public doesn’t understand what we do, how can we expect them to know that they need us? As a community, we need to make a point to educate the public and teach them the difference between decorator and designer.

Interior designers can work on both residential and commercial projects, while interior decorators can only work on residential projects. This is because in your own home you have the right to do whatever you want with it, while businesses must follow codes and ADA. Decorators do not have the knowledge to provide these requirements. Sure, if you want your living room rearranged and paint colors picked out, a decorator can do that. But when it comes to public safety, a designer can prevent falls, loss of life in fire, building collapses, and promote universal design, functionality, and an overall better experience in spaces.

You wouldn’t want your doctor, attorney, or hair stylist to be unlicensed? So why deregulate the profession that affects all of the interior environments you experience? Decorators say designers are a “cartel”, that we are keeping them out of the field because we fear for our jobs, and that we are being unfair for wanting them to go to school, get experience, and take an exam to be licensed. We work very hard to meet these qualifications and learn very valuable knowledge. Design does not just happen. It is a skill that is honed.  

Ethics: Where Professional and Personal Beliefs Collide

            As long as I can remember I have heard you keep your personal and professional lives separate. But when it comes to ethics, that line blurs. Ethics is an individual’s system of moral principles. In the interior design industry, ethics is always on everyone’s mind. Ethics affects everything from what projects you choose to what happens to extra materials at the end of a project and everything in-between.

            To design a space, the designer has to put themselves in the shoes of the user. Sometimes designers cannot ethically do this. Some designers may have issues designing spaces like strip clubs, abortion clinics, particular religious churches, certain type of night clubs, etc. and some won’t have a problem with it. Even if your ethics don’t conflict with these projects, future clients may not want your services because of it. Your projects are a reflection of you.

            Ethics is so much more than just the jobs you choose. Do you give your client the extra materials or sell it? Do you take that moonlighting job even though it’s not allowed your contract? Do you take those incentives from a rep for specing their product? Do you spec that cheaper, unsafe flooring to save money? None of these things are illegal just unethical. If you have to question how something will affect how you sleep at night, you just shouldn’t do it. Always think ethically and responsibly.