While HGTV has raised the consciousness that the average American has of the Interior Design profession and thus helped the industry, it has also called to arms and army of 'can do' decorettes who think that their own success at home makes them qualified to design the homes of others. While no one can dispute that watching a room come together for $1000 is entertaining, or that a faux paint job on a cheap wooden frame may make it look old, or that sometimes rearranging the crap that people already own may make it look more attractive - none of this is design or designing. To follow are some tells of an actual designer.
Designers are clairvoyant.
A home is a living entity. An entity that has its own desires, memories and ambitions. A good designer must first and foremost collaborate with the home/architecture/space to be successful.
Designers are omni lingual.
Clients are necessary and sometimes wonderful. Clients also require the greatest amount of interpretation, as they unconsciously mislead you about their actual budget, sentimentalities and how involved they wish to be in the design process. Each client speaks their own language and designers must learn to be fluent in each one to be successful.
Designers are altruists.
The design profession is riddled with impostors who make specifications based on margins with certain vendors rather than what is right for the space/project. Designers will sacrifice and use existing/big box/ (gasp) client's own purchases if it is for the greater good.
Designers are visionaries.
While many look to trade publications as pattern books from which they can craft careful imitations of others, designers are inspired by the work of their colleagues but continue to craft rooms in their own aesthetic. Much as the works of Shakespeare spoke differently to both lower and upper classes, published works often contain "inside jokes" from one designer to the next in the form of a reference or quotation or a Duchampian placement of a humble object.
Designers are compulsive.
For designers the world is a cacophony of error. Errors they are compelled to correct whether in the form of actual physical action or the superimposition of the mind's eye. Designers do not work only when they are being paid to, in fact, their charity is often anonymous. The only peace that can be found is in a designed environment.
In short, professional designers are driven by the the simple fact that there is no other alternative. Total world domination.
Designers are clairvoyant.
A home is a living entity. An entity that has its own desires, memories and ambitions. A good designer must first and foremost collaborate with the home/architecture/space to be successful.
Designers are omni lingual.
Clients are necessary and sometimes wonderful. Clients also require the greatest amount of interpretation, as they unconsciously mislead you about their actual budget, sentimentalities and how involved they wish to be in the design process. Each client speaks their own language and designers must learn to be fluent in each one to be successful.
Designers are altruists.
The design profession is riddled with impostors who make specifications based on margins with certain vendors rather than what is right for the space/project. Designers will sacrifice and use existing/big box/ (gasp) client's own purchases if it is for the greater good.
Designers are visionaries.
While many look to trade publications as pattern books from which they can craft careful imitations of others, designers are inspired by the work of their colleagues but continue to craft rooms in their own aesthetic. Much as the works of Shakespeare spoke differently to both lower and upper classes, published works often contain "inside jokes" from one designer to the next in the form of a reference or quotation or a Duchampian placement of a humble object.
Designers are compulsive.
For designers the world is a cacophony of error. Errors they are compelled to correct whether in the form of actual physical action or the superimposition of the mind's eye. Designers do not work only when they are being paid to, in fact, their charity is often anonymous. The only peace that can be found is in a designed environment.
In short, professional designers are driven by the the simple fact that there is no other alternative. Total world domination.
1 comment:
you are so sexy when you talk smart.
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