SEE 10/14/14 UPDATE BELOW
At first I was concerned by the misinformation posited by the September 17th Huffington Post article “Arbitrary Interior Design Regulations Hurt Entrepreneurs, Consumers”. Much to our chagrin the Huff post has a pretty broad reach. Hats off to the Institute for Justice and their continued ringing of this bell.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-gowins/arbitrary-interiordesign-_b_5830782.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business
At this point posting comments to this anti-regulatory rhetoric is just pissing in the wind….makes me feel better though. Then there were rumors of an impending rebuttal from ID professional organization ‘A’ -the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). Finally 12 days later came
IIDA’s rebuttal issued via their own blog;
http://designmatters.iida.org/2014/09/29/interior-design-vs-interior-decorating/
Unfortunately IIDA was suckered into the unwinnable debate- what is decoration and what is design. Fortunately their response was issued to its members and not the wider press. Had it been issued as a press release (which it to my knowledge wasn’t) and picked up by the wider press I am not sure any non-designer would have any interest much less be able to grasp the nuances. Hell I know many informed interior designers that can’t explain the difference.
Then ID professional organization ‘1’ the American Society of Interior Designers issue this memorandum to I don’t know who one day later;
http://asid.org/sites/default/files/u34215/ASID-HuffingtonPost-Response-FINALdocx.pdf
While the ASID does a better job dancing around the designer vs. decorator issue there is one closing statement that just does not make any sense to PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER;
“Interior design laws allow designers to sell more products and hire employees as their businesses grow.”
Really…this is why we have been beating our collective heads against the legal/political wall for 30+ years?……So we can sell more product?……
Actually maybe it is a good thing these rebuttals are for a limited audience.
Here is John Czarnecki and Contract Magazine’s take on the issue;
http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/design/The-Need-for-a-Respo-11669.shtml
it is a very good thing. The more designers hang their hat on the sales of product, the less we will ever be considered professionals. Sales may be a small part of how we could earn our income, but it is far better to sell our intellectual capital, in other words, our design work.
Yeah how can an organization for designers ignore the design part? The term is in their damn name.
Okay then change it to the American Society of American Furnishings Sales. BOOM!