Proffesional Designer of a Interio & Decor says, even as a former interior designer, it is difficult for me to communicate the value of a professional interior designer brings to a design project.

Interior design is a business, and a demanding one. The forum of interior designers instituted exactly two years ago and dedicated solely to business and professional news and opinion, demonstrates that recognition. But, for most of us, the business aspect of interior design is not its chief attraction. What drew most designers to the profession is the fact that interior design is an art.

It is not a fine art, but an applied art. It cannot luxuriate in its independence as can these engaged in painting and sculpture, working without regard to anything but aesthetic demands. It is, instead an art that requires hard work and skills to solve both serious and mundane problems. And just as there are a great many buildings that never achieve the status of architecture, there are a great many interiors that never achieve the level of art. But there are many that do, and, at their best, interior designers are artists. Although the artistic element is difficult to separate from interior design’s more practical elements, it must not be denied that it often exists and can add an important extra value to our work. Granted, a designer who idealistically focuses solely on art may have trouble finding any opportunity to practice the art; still, it seems undeniable that in today’s difficult economy, the art of interior design is undervalued. In a recent conversation with the impressively articulate principal of one of our client firms, I was told that the firm’s emphasis now, in its efforts to get new work, is on economic benefits for clients. Similarly, a fine designer in California told me a couple of months ago that he never mentions appearance or design while making a presentation these days. He instead promises to produce a more efficient plan than his competitors. And one firm that used to call itself “architects” is emphasizing that it is technologically savvy by now calling itself “cybertects.” If at any point in the past the works of these firms sometimes transcended problem solving and become art, they’re certainly not bragging about them. One likely reason is that in interior design, the implicit assumption is that the element of art is inseparable from more practical elements. As said: “Art is not a special sauce applied to ordinary cooking; it is the cooking itself if it is good.”

Another reason for ignoring the element of art in interior design is that the value of art is notoriously difficult to measure. The essence of art is intangible, and it cannot be quantified as a number of square feet or pounds or yards. Consequently, it is difficult to give it a monetary. It is true that the number of hours taken to achieve a work of art can be recorded, but such records rarely include the value of previous experience.

Art is not a special sauce applied to ordinary cooking; it is the cooking itself if it is good.”

Technique and experience count a lot in this field, just as they do in the finest of fine arts. Whistler had more than a painter’s vision; he also had the technical expertise to effectively manifest that vision. Such expertise is not achieved by the novice or the housewife-with-flair or the guy-who-can-get-you-a-good-deal. It is achieved through the increasingly rigorous education that our profession requires and through the subsequent practical application of that education. Like the surgeon or lawyer, the interior designer must be both educated and practiced.

Today’s designer, it seems to this former designer, will not be paid what he or she worth without conveying a clear idea of that worth, not by competing with other professionals such as lawyers, brokers and managers, but by proudly providing the services the designer alone can provide. Not by presenting the profession in some new guise, but in the old and honest way, not by pretending to do work that necessarily saves the client money, but by doing work that is worth the client’s money. That client must somehow, gently, tactfully, but firmly be made aware that:

  • The primary function of a designer is to provide design (and that design includes not just decorating but an interrelated network of problem solving).
  •  Good design requires time and effort of highly educated professionals.
  • Such time and effort deserve fair compensation.

Perhaps not every prospective client really needs design services, but those who do should be prepared to pay for them. The current abhorrent practice of clients demanding severe cuts in designers’ fees cannot be expected to end until those clients are reminded of what those fees are purchasing. In these economically troubled times, the design profession does not need to be reshaped; it needs to  reasserted.