Thank you so much to David Stone, design director at Nelson in Boston, for this letter to the editor. Always feel free to contact Editorial Director Erika Templeton with one of your own at [email protected].
And David, we are listening...
Dear Erika,
As a former IDCA/Interior Design Coalition of Arizona President and past member of the MIDC/Massachusetts Interior Design Coalition, IIDA Charter member and past Chapter President, it’s obvious that I believe in and advocate for regulation of and legislation for the interior design profession. So it was with great interest I opened the January 2015 “The Politics of Design” Interiors & Sources issue.
What caught my eye most was your eloquent statements on page 8 – “Design Debates,” and the straightforward, non-confrontational, fact based comments you made and illustrated. While I applaud you and I&S for taking this issue on head first, and working and supporting the efforts of so many in the profession to seek legal recognition for the work we do, I fear that your comments are lost on the audience who needs to hear this most. That audience is comprised of fear-mongers and naysayers like Ms. Patty Morrow, who continue to liken interior design abilities to being able to pick out the right shade of lipstick. Or of the AIA and their ilk who indeed continue to cajole the profession but refuses to acknowledge the rigors of education and training out of fears of business losses while missing the point that together we can truly change our built environment for the better. Or to the general public at large who continue to be influenced and swayed by TV programs that think interior design just takes a weekend and a good looking host to perform miracles in 30 minutes (minus commercials) of air time. I admit there are shows that use true professionals and help educate the public, albeit a very limited list.
Those that are passionate about achieving universal recognition for our chosen profession—which, by the way, is not a hobby that we have a “knack for doing” (reference the IIDA editorial)—are tired of having a limited audience, many times those same few who continually support the efforts. We’ve gotten to where we need more public and vocal advocates like Interiors & Sources and even Contract, Interior Design and Metropolis to help us go further and to engage those immediately outside the arguments that can most benefit from success.
We need you to help engage both ASID and IIDA to truly collaborate on pushing universal legislation, not continue to carve out territories and domains.
We need you to help bring leaders of the AIA and other allied professions to the table for meaningful discussions, not patronizing platitudes.
And we need you to help legislators, legislatures, and lawmakers understand that even in a landscape of DE-regulation by virtue of non-legislation we are all “regulated” into one imperfect, imprecise body that has little in common with itself.
We need you to work with those of us most passionate (and even those lukewarm) to this road of advocacy, right now!
Continue these efforts, but be bold.
Be at the forefront.
Be worthy of representing the industry in this cause.
And be worthy of being “the source” for our profession.
Thank you.
David D. Stone, IIDA, NCIDQ
LEED AP ID+C
Design Director
NELSON
Boston, Mass.
