Last Wednesday I attended two seminars conducted in New York for members of ASID (American Society of Interior Designers). What a paradox:

At the first, the speaker, a successful marketing professional, discussed the original model of the interior design business and, although he stated that the industry has changed and designers must now adapt, he recommended that everyone in attendance seek to establish themselves as “exclusive.” He went on to say that there are a growing number of billionaires around the globe and those very rich people will provide the interior design market with lots of business.  As I listened I felt like Valentine in “Stranger in A Strange Land.” Wasn’t the speaker aware that the old business model has more than changed? That it has become completely outdated? In fact, over the last decade, society has demanded that interior designers adapt to the new paradigm: accessibility.

Conversely, the second speaker, an editor of a design magazine, spoke about the importance of interior design going green and of Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller, the great American inventor, visionary and multi-disciplined designer whose credo was doing “more with less,” in order to benefit the greatest number of people, and by using natural materials. Now, that was more like it!

I suppose there will always be a demand for exclusive interior design for billionaires. Hopefully, it will be tasteful and not just over-the-top-look-at-what-I-have impressive. But the other 95% of the population needs advice about how to design and decorate too, so, hands down, I’m with Bucky Fuller: Helping more people create beautiful homes with natural materials, and without spending a lot of money, is the conscious way to go.

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