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Interior Design News

Interior Design School Project Brings Dose of Reality

Interior design students are rarely afforded an opportunity to work on a live interior design project. While many schools make way for projects that co-opt community resources, allowing students to get real-world experience, few are able to offer actual renovation projects to their students. When the opportunity does come up for an interior design school, it is great practice for students and can be a sobering experience.

As pointed out in an article recently, students working on this type of project become very aware that their dream is about to be a reality:

You could call it a friendly competition with satisfaction on a job well done as the ultimate prize.

Two groups of interior design students at the Centre for Arts and Technology Okanagan (CATO) in Kelowna unveiled their handy work Wednesday morning at the ‘Dwell’ development on Ambrosi Road.

The eight students, who will graduate in September, put their design skills to work on two show suites in the newly completed third phase of the Mission Group development project.

Mission Group President, Randy Shier says the students were asked to take on the task because they fit the age demographic of the development.

“We could not be happier with the results,” says Shier.

“The results have already exceeded our expectations.”

Each four member team was provided with one show suite to decorate from top to bottom including walls and furnishings.

One suite was designed for a single male the other for a young couple with no children.

Lauren Mason who worked on the suite designed for a single male says the concept came from a piece of fabric that contained green, black, a beige colour and some greys.

“We just fell in love with the fabric and everything sprouted from there. That’s where we came up with the stripes on the wall,” says Mason.

“We tried to incorporate everything from those colours. That’s why we have the black couch.”

She says it’s been a great real life experience.

Read more about the interior design students’ experience from Casanet

More Reading on Interior Design School activities:

Fogarty Awarded First Place in Design Challenge

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Interior Design News

Interior Design School Symposia Offer Insight for Future Students

Future professionals who are still weighing their options about which type of school to which they should apply may benefit from looking up free seminars held by interior design schools in their area. Symposiums are usually free and open to the public. They also provide a great forum for would-be students to hear first-hand information from a school without all of the pressure of a one-on-one session with a school counselor.

As one man recently reported, there is much information to be gleaned from a free symposium at an interior design school:

One of the great things about living in a university town is the ability to attend educational lectures and symposia, which are almost always free and open to the public.

I recently went to a symposium at the University of Kentucky marking the 40th anniversary of the School of Interior Design. One reason I went was I knew very little about interior design or the education of interior designers.

I was like most people, school director Ann Dickson said: “They think it’s about teaching people how to choose the color of drapes.”

Modern interior design is about creating the environments where we spend most of our time. It is not just about making interior spaces more attractive, but more comfortable, efficient, functional, healthy and safe.

In an increasingly complex world, designers of all kinds are more problem-solvers than anything else. Many of the problem-solving approaches discussed by this symposium’s speakers and panelists are useful no matter your business.

Robin Guenther, a New York-based principal with the big architectural firm Perkins + Will, is a specialist in designing health care spaces. Why should anyone but health care professionals care about that?

Well, at 18 percent of gross domestic product and growing, health care is one of the nation’s biggest industries, Guenther noted. So much health care construction is being done that it is uniquely positioned to drive the research and innovation that eventually will influence virtually all construction.

Guenther gave a fascinating presentation about how the hospital building boom is leading to innovations in energy-efficiency, environmental sustainability, comfort and safety.

Read more from Kenucky.com

More Reading on Interior Design Schools:

Virginia Marti College of Art & Design Helps New Students in Tough Financial Times

Lisa Marie Goudey Shows Artwork at Cazenovia College Art Gallery

Noted Author and Feng Shui Practitioner Offers 4-Day Immersive Course on Ancient Interior Design

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Interior Design News

Interior Design School to Host Symposium on Design

A college’s interior design school will soon host a symposium about the past and future of interior design. The University of Kentucky will shed some light on the industry’s rich history and the future of design to students and other people interested in design.

A professor in the School of Interior Design, Joseph A. Rey-Barreau, shares some information and thoughts that are interesting to all design enthusiasts.

Humans have had an interest in designing interiors as far back as the cave paintings drawn 17,000 years ago in what is now France, but the profession of interior design is relatively new as it is practiced today in the United States.

During the past 40 years, interior design has evolved from a focus on residential work to one that now draws on many disciplines to enhance the function, safety and aesthetics of all types of interior spaces. To explore the changes that have occurred in the profession, and to look at the field’s next 40 years, the University of Kentucky School of Interior Design will host a conference next weekend called “40+: Rethinking Design.” The symposium, open to the public but most attractive to design professionals, will consider the rapidly changing context in which interior design is practiced and analyze the role the profession will play in the future.

Read more from Kentucky.com

IF YOU GO

“40+: Rethinking Design” symposium

What: UK School of Interior Design hosts a symposium to explore how the field has changed and is changing. Speakers include Prataap Patrose on socially responsible design, Robin Guenther on hospital design and Cindy Coleman on workplace design; respondents include Mayor Jim Gray and Dr. Michael Karpf, executive vice president of health affairs at UK. Continuing education credit is available.

When: March 29-30

Where: UK Student Center center theater, 404 S. Limestone

Get the details here.

More on the History of Interior Design:

The History of Interior Design

Celebrating the History of Interior Design at the White House

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Interior Design News

Interior Design Student Competition in NC

Interior design schools often encourage students to participate in interior design competitions. The competitions are high-pressure contests that can show students just what it’s like to try to get a rush job done on-time and within budget out in the real world of design.

Competitions can also help pay for interior design school tuition, as the students at one college found out this month.  Cape Fear Community College students recently participated in this type of competition, where the stakes and prizes were high.

The students, enrolled in CFCC’s two-year interior design program, saw their projects win first, second and third place in the 2012 Otto Zenke Student Design Competition. More than 90 students from two- and four-year colleges in North and South Carolina participated.

First place winner was Justin Nixon who won $1000 for himself and $1000 for the college. Jennifer Corson was second place winner and the recipient of $750, and Kately Thrailkill won $500 as third place winner.

The competition is an annual event sponsored by the Carolinas Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). CFCC students competed against students from such institutions as the Art Institute of Charleston, Meredith College and Winthrop University.

The charge to students was to design an adaptive reuse of a fictional building in Raleigh to house at-risk youth. An eight-page document outlined the features and furnishings that had to be incorporated into the facility, as well as the ADA and other code requirements that had to be met.

“There were a lot of technical details that provided an opportunity for the students to show their skills in creating an environment that promotes the life, safety and welfare of the occupants,” said Patricia Battershill, lead instructor of CFCC’s interior design program. “It goes far beyond the decorative aspect of the design, and it needed to be eco-friendly, welcoming, comforting and healing.”

Read the whole story from the Greater Wilmington Business Journal.

More on Interior Design Schools and Competitions:

VSU Places Third In National Interior Design Competition

Local Interior Designer Competes on Nationally Televised ‘Design Wars’

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Interior Design News

CA Legislation Requires Interior Design School Education

A national interest group for interior designers and architects is calling on interior design schools and others in the industry to carefully review new legislation from the state of California. A new bill could result in stricter requirements for interior designers, both in their level of education at an interior design school and in their work experience in the industry.

 

From the American Institute of Architects (California):

“Each year the Legislature introduces thousands of bills, and each year the Advocacy Advisory Committee (AAC) reviews bills that could be of collective interest to the membership. The AAC will make recommendations to the AIACC Board of Directors on how the AIACC should respond to each bill, whether that response support, oppose, ignore, or suggest an amendment.

Among the 60+ bills are proposals to create a sales tax on services, establish a practice act for interior design, require the building code to include methods to reduce vehicle miles traveled by users of the building (we are not sure how this would apply to a DMV office, a car dealership, or a Smog Check station), and exempt license professionals, including architects, who are called up for active duty in the armed forces, from having to pay the renewal fee or complete any required continuing education.”

More on this story from AIACC.

The bill partially reads:

“This bill would create the California Registered Interior Designers Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The bill would require the membership of the board to consist of an unspecified number of members who are required to be registered interior designers and an unspecified number of public members. The bill would require the Governor to appoint the public members and the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly to appoint unspecified numbers of the licensee members.

The bill would provide for the licensure and regulation by the board of persons who engage in the practice of registered interior design, as defined.

The bill would require the board to issue a license to a person who meets specified requirements, including, but not limited to, completing an application, paying a specified fee, submitting proof of successful completion of certain education and work experience, and submitting proof of passage of an examination approved by the board or a specified examination prepared and administered by the National Council for Interior Design.”

(Read the rest of the bill here.)

More about Assembly Bill 2482:

AB 2482 Assembly Bill Introduced

Important Message – Assembly Bill 2482 Talking Points

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Interior Design News

Top Interior Design School Names New Head of Interior Design

An interior design school in Boston recently named an experienced designer, architect, and instructor as their new head of interior design.

The Boston Architectural College appointed Crandon Gustafson, recently from the Harrington School of Design in Chicago, as the Head of the School of Interior Design.

Gustafson’s professional associations and memberships include the International Interior Design Association, the American Society of Interior Designers, the American Institute of Architects, and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified designers and educator. Although he is a professional interior designer, he is also an accomplished interior design school educator and has worked as the Director of the Center for Professional Development at the Harrington School of Design in Chicago, the Department Chair for Interior Design at Harrington.

He also teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in many areas of interior design. In his professional life, Gustafson is a practicing designer specializing in various parts of the interior design industry that includes commercial and educational architecture and design for several design firms.

The Boston Architectural College’s school of interior design offers Bachelor and Master degrees in interior design. The school boasts staff that remains active in their industry and most a practicing interior designers as well as interior design educators. Instructors have a diverse educational, professional, and cultural background that helps to enrich the learning experience from which students may benefit. (About 80% of graduates from the school become employed in the industry after graduation.)

In Design Intelligence’s list of top interior design programs of 2012, the Boston Architectural College’s School of Interior Design placed twice on the top 10 list. The Bachelor Degree program placed at number 3. The Master Degree program ranked at number 5. The school was ranked at number 6 in 2010 by Design Intelligence among the top 10 interior design programs in the United States.

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Interior Design News

Interior Design School Hosts Career Series

An interior design school in California recently announced a new series of seminars for professional interior designers and architects, as well as students who want to one day open their own interior design business.

The Design Institute of San Diego is hosting “The Cycle of Success”, in progress, at the interior design school’s campus this month and through June of this year.

The series has already completed three of the six seminars on the subject of interior design business skills, with the third session occurring on March 10th. The purpose of the interior design school’s seminar series is to provide students and professionals interested in the school’s DI Career Series the opportunity to learn as much as possible about what it takes to run a successful interior design business.

All of the seminars in the series are presented by the founder of Nobelinks, Stephen Nobel. Nobelinks is a company in New York that provides consulting services to people in the market for luxury home goods and it’s well known as a worldwide provider of business strategies that fuse interior design with marketing, pricing, and client experience.

The nest sessions in the seminar series at the interior design school will include Administration and Legal Documentation on Saturday, April 14th; Operations and Business Processes on Saturday, May 12th; and Research and Development on Saturday, June 9th. All seminars begin at 10 AM and end at 3 PM and cost depends on status in the industry. Interior design school students can get in for $15 per session or $75 for the series, recent graduates pay only $35 per session or $175 for the series, and interior design professionals can attend the series for $260 or $65 per session.

All seminars are part of the “Second Saturday at DI Career Series” program at the design school and interested parties can contact the school for more information and reservations.

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Interior Design News

Interior Design School Hosts Design Business Lecture

An interior design school in Atlanta, GA hosted an industry expert for a lecture on the important aspects of interior design businesses.

The lecture is based, in part, on highlights from The Business of Design, Balancing Creativity and Profitability by author and lecturer Keith Granet and took place at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center.

Students from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta attended the lecture that focused on the art of design and business. Most ideas of art and entrepreneurship seem to conflict, as if one cannot be both a great designer and business owner. However, Granet says that all of that is a myth and that the aspects that rule artistic design and logistical business sense do intersect.

(Read more about Granet and his book here.)

The interior design students and industry professionals were treated to a keynote speech by the designer that discussed the tools needed to create and manage a successful business. This lecture included elements of good business practices, hiring and managing a good staff, and how to properly delegate functions within the interior design business.

Granet’s firm, Granet & Associates, also created the Design Speakers Bureau; an organization that provides lectures and training to interior design schools as well as professionals in the interior design industry. The DSB boasts many expert speakers in the interior design industry, including eight interior designers as well as architects and other related professionals.

The Savannah College of Art and Design provides interior design schools and other forms of art training to students at four campuses, including Atlanta, Savannah, Honk Kong, and Lacoste. It also boasts online classes and studies for distance learning students. SCAD was founded in 1978 and offers studies in interior design, communication arts, fashion design, digital media and film, building art, liberal arts, and performing arts.

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Interior Design News

Most Admired Interior Design School Instructors

An interior design association keen on furthering the education standards at interior design school recently announced that a prestigious industry publication awarded five of its members among the most admired educators in the design industry.

The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) released the news that Design Intelligence had published its list of the 25 most admired educators in the architecture and interior design industry; a list made up in part by the five award winners who are also members of the IIDA.

The IIDA’s members making the coveted list include instructors from several schools of design around the country. From the interior design school at Florida State University, Lisa Kinch; from the School of Architecture at Woodbury University, Randall Stauffer; from the Savannah College of Art, Margo Jones; from the School of Architecture at University of Texas at Austin, Lawrence Speck; and from the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University, Karen Clarke.

This is the second most-admired educator to hail from the University of Texas in as many years according to the publications list of 25 educators. All of the interior design schools and programs at the universities provide superior design education, partially thanks to their faculty’s membership in organizations such as the IIDA. Professional network organizations allow teachers and students to stay at the top of their professional game and make sure that while they are away from the industry to teach interior design students, they are staying current in their own profession.

Many instructors of interior design classes maintain their own businesses and working relationships outside of the college classroom. This is important to the quality of education that occurs at an interior design school. Informed instructors who are connected through the professional network at IIDA are doing their part to keep students “in the know” about their future careers.

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Interior Design News

No Boost for Interior Design Schools in OR

An Oregon Senate Bill that might have encouraged more aspiring interior designers to attend an accredited school in the state failed in the original committee meetings last month.

Senate Bill 1521 would have provided more regulation in the state around the interior design industry, requiring more rigid licensing and education requirements.

More opponents than supports showed up to the committee hearing on the bill that would require a state licensing program for interior design professionals. The opposition claimed that requiring interior design school, certifications and licensures would limit the public’s options unnecessarily and cause harm to current interior designer’s businesses.

The bill was discussed in town hall meetings throughout the past year, but supporters of the bill say that the opponents of the bill were not present in that part of the process. The Interior Design Collaborative is one of the primary supporters of the bill, which in their view protects small interior design businesses in the state. To the surprise of supporters at the committee hearing, many of the missing opponents showed up to voice their opposition to the bill. One of the more surprising opponents may have been another professional design organization, the Oregon Chapter of the American Institutes of Architects.

Because of the opposition turn-out, the bill never went to vote and is marked for further research and review. In a report by the Daily Journal of Commerce Oregon, Interior Design Collaborative Oregon’s president, Alicia Snyder-Carlson said they were surprised by the turnout of opponents.

“We did not expect there to be as much opposition as there was, which might have been a little naïve on our part; nevertheless, (the bill’s opponents) did appear,” she said after the meeting. “We hadn’t heard much from them all year. There was not a whole lot of attendance at the town halls we held to discuss the bill, so that was unfortunate.”