"The Talk"

Initially when I applied to do my Bachelors in Interior design I received colorful feedback. “Oh like that stuff on those shows?” or “oh wow so you are very crafty” or even the unacquainted “Oh you can help me pick out paint for my apartment.” Now I’m not discouraging our humble beginnings, Interior designers do know how to pick out paint but to us it’s much more than just a color, understanding this is where we draw the line from being a designer and a decorator. Many shows on TV like the ones depicted in the popular network HGTV show designers picking out color and all the materials for a preexisting, defined space however majority in fact are decorators hence the most popular statement heard throughout the interior design world (mainly said by decorators or homemakers and such), “Oh that’s easy, I can do that.”

An interior decorator adds adornment to a space; an interior designer creates the interior space. Creating interior space, I know this is vague but it’s very clear in its meaning. We have a building, the shell with empty space inside it, no function or form to the interior, an interior designer comes in and builds the interior based on human needs for that environment. This is an extensive process, not as easy as going to a store buying a few pillows and rearranging furniture.

Being close to completing my education I quickly realize when talking with other’s about my future profession that no one really knows what we do and not only that but also all these design shows on TV are further inhibiting the public’s capacity to understand what it takes to be a designer. This couldn’t be clearer than in the article Student Perceptions: Debunking Television’s Portrayal of Interior Design. In here Authors Waxman and Clemons state that majority of the people who apply to an interior design program were influenced by design related shows. The example that followed was perfect “I was doing my accounting homework last night while watching Trading Spaces and it suddenly became clear that I want to be an interior designer.” The authors say that after they hear this they have to have “the talk” and explain the challenges of the program and what this career entails. When I am approached with a negative outlook on interior design I to find myself having to stop, take a deep breath and proceed to have the talk. It is frustrating at times to do so, however I find it my responsibility to educate the public, I like to think of it as positive peer enrichment.  

Since 2000 there has been an increase in design shows that parallels the increase in the student enrolled in design programs. Waxman and Clemons report a 100%-300% increase in enrollment in interior design. Even though this is positive, this also saturates the job market and makes it harder to find a job for those who truly live, breath, and eat design.

It’s important to understand that these shows, although labeled reality, are not, they do not depict an accurate reality of an interior designer. They are merely entertainment, and often of poor quality. A false reality which further perpetuates the idea that we adorn space. 

Good Design: Designing for everyone

The Disability Census 2000 counted 49.7 million people with some type of disability. Of this they represented 19.3 percent of the 257.2 million people who were aged 5 and older, another way to look at it is nearly one person in five. A more specific breakdown of this would be 9.3 million (3.6 percent) with a sensory disability involving sight or hearing; 21.2 million (8.2 percent) with a condition limiting basic physical activities (walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying); 12.4 million (4.8 percent) with a physical, mental, or emotional condition causing difficulty in learning, remembering, or concentrating. 6.8 million (2.6 percent) with a physical, mental, or emotional condition causing difficulty in dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home;  18.2 million of those aged 16 and older with a condition that made it difficult to go outside the home (8.6 percent of the 212.0 million people this age); 21.3 million of those aged 16 to 64 with a condition that affected their ability to work at a job or business. People were defined as having a disability if one or more of the following conditions were true: They were aged 5 or older and responded “yes” to a sensory, physical, mental, or self-care disability; They were aged 16 years or older and responded “yes” to a disability affecting going outside the home; They were between the ages of 16 and 64 and responded “yes” to an employment disability.

So how does all this relate to design? Well how does it not.  We design for the person, and since the disabled population is growing to be the largest minority group in the U.S, we need to start integrating their needs of the general public. The built environment should be made for just the general public, and those who have a disability can get lost in the population, being overwhelmed by our ideals as opposed to a more consistent mindset. When I say consistent mindset I mean redefining our ideals in our built environment, integrating needs for the disabled populace with the general public. There needs to be a direct change improving access to positive built environments. 

There is a growing concern that good design is attainable only if you have money to afford it. I have recently been looking for a new apartment and my parameters are very few in retrospect: anything but carpet flooring (concrete, tile, wood, etc); functional space that allowed me to work and live in my apartment; easy accessibility due to my dog; large windows; clean. In high insight I guess I preferred a more modern or industrial space however little did I know what I was getting myself into. Apparently if you want tile, wood, or even concrete flooring, large windows, and a functional space , clean and freshly painted with a clean kitchen you will be paying anywhere between $1500 to $3000 for a two bedroom apartment with two bathrooms. This is outrageous; I can rent a house for that amount. This is when it hit me, good design is expensive and it shouldn’t be, why do I have to pay so much to live in a positive environment, and I don’t have a disability, imagine if I did, my list would increase substantially depending on my situation and then what would I have to add? Another thousand or two. Who can attain this? And if my idea of good design is functional space with proper use of material in a space and an integration with the built environment and the natural environment, then what is good design in general?

Good design is our non-negotiable, a built environment that incorporates the spirit of the occupants and the building, it’s using what’s required as a guideline and creating a positive environment for any future occupant. It’s a number of things, which creates a positive environment to fulfill its function. A definition for good design is ever changing, as our needs change as well accessibility to materials and technology so will the term good design.

Having defined good design and a positive built environment I feel that everyone has the right to be in a space that will benefit them without stretching their earnings to do so. Upon completion of my education I am hoping to have the opportunity to change building for the non-disabled (also refered to as general public) for the public. 

Can we all just get along?

Lately there has been a lot of talk about interior designers and legislature to set this profession apart from the others. Interior design takes into account the user of each space and uses form to design for safety and function. It takes a lot of knowledge to design a space that is why it is important to have schools that support to build our knowledge as well as testing and legislature to help regulate the field.

So, why is it so hard to separate interior design from other design fields like architecture? Author Lucinda Kaukas Havenhand wrote an article called A View from the Margin: Interior Design, here she explains that “Interior design is perceived as feminine, superficial, and mimetic as compared to a male, rational, and original architecture,” so the confusion between the professions lies with gender roles. Men have the more superior role as architects and women have an inferior role as a designer. Although I do not completely agree with this, it sheds new light on an ever present issue to separate the two professions.

Havenhand also states, “In trying to assert that women were “as good as” men, they were only asking to be continually compared to them,” this statement is profound, the more we try to differentiate, the more we will be linked. I have taken a few elementary design courses at the architecture department in USF, these courses forced me to develop concept statements, to look at the projects as a whole (not in parts), to focus on my parti, and have my concept statement speak through my parti and my final model. I had to stand in front of a jury of thesis grad students and explain in a few words what I attempted to do, and if it wasn’t clearly defined, I would have to mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. They would rip your ideas apart. To them a mass was looked at from the exterior giving little significance to the interior, ignoring small moments experienced inside the form constructed. Now enrolled in the interior design program I am developing knowledge I was unable to obtain previously. I am ever changing. I am learning about the human experience, the interior environment, and materials. An architect gives importance to the outside, building from the outside in, an interior designer builds from the inside out, however before our pencils touch the paper we create a human connection that often times lacks in architecture.

There are a lot of talented designers be it interior designers or architects, each have something to offer and neither should be disregarded or put down as a spectator in the field of design or even as a mimic. The more diverse the field of design is the better we will be able to link humanity and the built environment. Often times we are afraid of what we do not know or afraid of what will happen, however the more we understand and build our knowledge, the more conscious design will emerge. 

An opinion is just an opinion; it doesn’t denote right or fact. Often times its misinformation mixed with bias. It is our responsibility to educate not only ourselves but also the public. 

Design Ties

I consider myself biracial. My ethnicity is muddled with the very traditional south Asian world and a more free European world. My father is Punjabi and grew up in Pakistan; my mother is half Turkish and half Kurdish growing up in the outskirts of Iraq. Both have their traditions and cultures, however neither have anything in common. I spent 11 years of my childhood in Pakistan; these are my roots my childhood filled with colorful images and emotions. My family and I immigrated to Toronto, Canada; here I spent 11 more years of my adolescent life. Toronto was very much a shock, I felt as if I was transported instantly into a world I had never met, one minute I was home in Pakistan enjoying the summer rains, the canal I drove past every day and the familiarity of my home, and the next I am in a city that hadn’t even noticed my arrival. Toronto is a busy city lined with closely packed buildings, alluring alleys and streets painted in fun colors (my first introduction to graffiti). When I think about it now, Toronto evoked my understanding of design, starting with scale; I was so tiny in such a large city. Walking from a narrow and long alley with the sides of these buildings towering over me showing only a slip of the sky above and just the hope of what’s to come in the clearing, finally opening up revealing a wide and busy street. The city was a very interesting experience; I never thought I would ever see beauty in it, but I did. I learned a lot from it, I learned what worked and why certain things were done the way they were, I also learned what didn’t work and what, if I had my hand in it, would I change. A city can be many things, and this is the same for interior design, it’s hard to summarize it in a sentence or paragraph, interior design is many things, it is essential. We create order in a built environment that helps us escape the disordered natural environment; we bring function to improve the quality of life; interior design is everything and everywhere, a language, a tool, a way of expression,  it is a way of being; for me it is, there for I am.