Deregulation…..how long has it been eating away at the toes of interior design? There have been several attempts, admittedly, with this last attempt being the most severe.
It is now personal to me. I have been a decorator for over 25 years and worked on some exciting projects. The truth is that when I decided to go back to school later in life, I did not realize how little I knew as a decorator that a designer understands and is expected to know. So I know from both sides of the issue that it is important that designers remain regulated to maintain their licenses and standard of performance.
So what are the designers doing to counteract it? Yes, going to the law makers is a good thing. We can even observe our legal system as it is broadcast live during a legislative session. It is a very concerning event to watch. One would swear it is the visual Face book in action, especially the Florida House of Representatives. The social behavior that is exhibited while serious matters are discussed is very alarming. Little attention is paid to the highest common sense reasoning, mostly because very few representatives are listening. Is this how significant bills with good bones happen to fall through the cracks and something serious isn’t represented as it should be on a bill? Not to ignore the lack of respect to those people who pay taxes (aka the paycheck to the legislature) or have worked hard in committee working through all the kinks to bring forth a piece of legislation. So, one of the first steps is to become aware of the behavior of our legislators. Attentive? Knowledgeable? Respectful? Present? Acknowledge through phone call, letter or email your appreciation when the “public servant” you voted in is working diligently.
Interior design has an extremely important role in the safety and health and therefore, the welfare of the public. The knowledge and education behind a Bachelor of Arts Degree of Interior Design is extremely vast and detailed. This knowledge and education is being sabotaged as is the case with the bill before the Senate and House on the deregulation of the interior design practice. I expected to see serious minded representatives in the House making serious decisions. I assumed that our paid elected officials took their jobs seriously and actually worked during the day to earn their paychecks. Do they not know they are being broadcasted live? Do they not realize that when arguments are raised and reasoning is offered, we are on the other side of the screen watching them as they are visiting each other, sleeping or just plain absent? Are they not embarrassed to know that we saw a vote against reason and safety in favor of just plain lies? During the process of debate in the House of Representatives strong firm truths from informed respected people were offered to those decision makers. The opposition made statements too, but they were either untrue or silly. Yet, when it came time to vote “yea” or “nay”, somehow all of the visiting stopped for just a second and the votes were cast. I must have blinked because I missed the short moment when many of our representatives stopped visiting, sleeping or talking on their phones to cast their vote. This issue of deregulating the interior design profession has made the front page of the Wall Street Journal and our paid elected officials didn’t have time to listen.
A strong thank you to those representatives who knew and spoke the truth about the importance of maintaining the interior design regulation. The information is correct, true and very logical. Interior designers truly appreciate your research, efforts, and independent stand. This is the higher road less traveled.
At some level, interior designers must ask themselves why the public is not educated on the difference between interior decorators and interior designers. People are so busy there is little time to educate one on subjects that do not affect your everyday life until one day it does. Do we as designers own some of the neglect when it comes to the uninformed public? That is an easy fix but one on which we must concentrate and be willing to accept the current issues including the facts regarding the public’s misunderstandings. Be willing to say there is a place in the workforce for a decorator and a designer and put forth those differences.
It is the right thing to be educated, it is the right thing to learn codes about fire safety and how to get a crowd out of a building as danger creeps, it is the right thing to know how and where a firewall should be or if ramps and steps are correct in the project, to know about air quality and how materials can affect the air we breathe. It is just plain the right thing as a designer to share the information acquired from the stacks and stacks of books read in order to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and then become NCIDQ certified. This certification is strict and it seems to me that if you have a large group of professionals who want to be monitored by a strict certification it should mean something. It definitely says something about the integrity and standards of the profession.
NCIDQ certification means a designer has a degree in interior design and worked under another licensed designer or architect for at least two years. A very strict test covering important material that protects the public in interior spaces must be passed in order to be certified. It is not unusual for a designer to attempt this test more than once. This is a respected certification and encompasses building codes, elements and materials among a few things. It is not an easy certification to achieve and one that any designer highly considers a true achievement.
So as the public begins to understand the differences between the designer and the decorator, they can make their choices intelligently. The interior design industry and the decorators need not argue. Moving forward taking action to educate the public is a constructive effort. Because of regulation, interior designers are proving every day the wealth of knowledge they bring to the client’s table, and as a byproduct of serving the client, the public is served. The sadness in all of this is the public is not aware of the knowledge a designer brings. This is where our industry must step up, build relationships and spend effort, time and money to educate the general public.
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