SIR – Lexington seems to have confused interior design with interior decoration. The interior-design profession is regulated because the designers provide services that carry substantial risk of harm if performed by unqualified people. They design spaces in a manner that can, among other things, reduce the likelihood of the spread of germs and disease in hospitals; increase productivity in commercial offices; and encourage learning in schools. Most important, they understand buildings from the users' perspective.
Interior designers are required to know about building codes, mechanical and electrical systems, fire suppression methods and sustainability measures. The “state-mandated test” that Lexington referred to was developed by our organisation and examines a designer's competence in these areas: it does not cover “fabulous taste”.
Jeffrey Kenney,
Executive director,
National Council for Interior Design Qualification,
Washington, DC
I don't see how giving advice on where to put your furniture or what paint color to use has anything to do with spreading germs. Especially if it would be legal to give that advice for free. As I understand it, in Iowa someone with a degree in Interior design can architect a building no taller than 3 stories. I'd agree that you should have to have some sort of credentials to do something like that, but to pick paint color? In the words of the John Stossel - Give me a break!
"Interior Decorators" like to call themselves "interior designers", but true "interior designers" do not like to be called "interior decorators". Technically, "interior design" is a subset/related to architecture. "Interior decorators" don't know much about building materials, and don't use Pantone colors. Interior designers know things like how wide walkways are supposed to be, how many square feet you need per-person (and how to arrange common areas to meet this legal (firecode) requirement), knows where exit signs should go, etc. There is also a significant amount of project management work that Interior designers do, in terms of managing the build out schedules and doing a lot of the technical grunt work in a build out.
SIR – Lexington seems to have confused interior design with interior decoration. The interior-design profession is regulated because the designers provide services that carry substantial risk of harm if performed by unqualified people. They design spaces in a manner that can, among other things, reduce the likelihood of the spread of germs and disease in hospitals; increase productivity in commercial offices; and encourage learning in schools. Most important, they understand buildings from the users' perspective.
Interior designers are required to know about building codes, mechanical and electrical systems, fire suppression methods and sustainability measures. The “state-mandated test” that Lexington referred to was developed by our organisation and examines a designer's competence in these areas: it does not cover “fabulous taste”.
Jeffrey Kenney, Executive director, National Council for Interior Design Qualification, Washington, DC