Get it straight

Interior designers have won a battle, yet still have a war to fight. Together with other professionals and industry partners, interior designers have teamed up to fight against people that want to deregulate interior design as a profession.    

On Friday, May 6, 2011, the Senate rejected the Bill that would have deregulated Interior Designers. If passed, interior designers would have not been able to design, sign, and build. It basically banned interior designers to sign construction documents and obtain building permits, only allowing constructors and architect to do it. It also said that anyone could call themselves an “interior design” and perform residential work, and only architects could do commercial design. This basically dishonored interior designers as professional when they are in fact trained and qualified to draw a set of construction documents, which include all building plans, specifications, and supporting documents used during the completion of a construction project. They are experts in interior spaces in regard to space planning, lighting, furniture design, building codes, human factors, and more. They can work in cooperation with an architect and/or constructor but each one with specific roles.

This deregulation would have not only affected the people that occupy buildings, but also the people that work to protect the occupant, as well.

On August 4, 2011 the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) and IIDA (International Interior Design Association) together celebrated the rejection of the Bill HB5005 by the Senate. This event was a great success, and I was privileged to be part of it as an interior design student. Over 250 people were present at The Art Institute of Tampa and showed support to our profession. It was wonderful to see the presence not limited to interior designers, but, architects, industry partners, educators, students, and the company of four house senates. People came together to share experiences and gave a positive energy.  The representatives of the senate spoke and showed enormous support and admitted that this problem had opened their eyes and taught them what we do as professionals. 

On the other hand there is a vast amount of people fighting to deregulate interior design. Why? Because there is a great amount of people who want to call themselves professionals without an education. They want to call themselves interior designers without a license. How can people say that a 4 year degree is not worth it? And that someone who did not have the same education knows exactly the same that you do?  

Meant to be

Almost every day I carry with things that do not fit in one bag or two and sometimes it takes two trips to get everything in my car. Then I also sit in front of the computer for hours and my back hurts. But that’s my choice; I am an Interior Design student and a year from now I will be graduating from the Art Institute of Tampa with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts.

When I was around 9 years old I said I was going to be an architect as I drew buildings, and houses. With my mom I visited multiple construction sites and learned how to read a floor plan, and I often I also changed our furniture layout and décor .

On one occasion, my nanny mentioned that she had too much furniture for her new small apartment, so then I grabbed a napkin and sketched my first floor plan arranging furniture in her new place.

At 13 years old I moved from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Florida, US. Things were done different here, and as I learned English I got involved into art classes. High School graduation approached, and I had two professions in mind, architecture or interior design. So, I earned an AA.architecture at a community college; which prepared me for either career, and I choose Interior Design.

Why Interior Design? Because I wanted to make an immediate effect on people’s life and their experiences indoors. Architecture is fundamental as it creates the shell of a interior space, but Interior design has a more physical connection to our daily routines.