Over The Top?!

The Arabian Night

Koo Kum, The Musical

Torandot by Carlo Gonzzi

No we haven’t gone off tangent. We did say we’ll be pushing the boundaries of interior design!

And we are introducing some theatricality in our upcoming forum incarnated in the form of Thailand’s top set designer, Hong Ritirong Jiwakanon.

Hong will be speaking to our delegates on 26 Nov 09 on our Leisure Spaces track and introducing the process of theatre design in his work in two aspects – the interior of the theatre itself and the design of the environment of the play that reflects the characters in it.

Now, surely it can’t hurt to put a little drama in your work to bedazzle your clients! Be sure to catch Hong and his interpretation of interior design at our forum!

Great Workshops at DESIGN VALUE: Beyond the Tangible

To all delegates & potential delegates. We have mapped out a series of provisional subjects for workshops, the workshop line-up is

A1  Design for Residence; current state – future state

A2  Design For Entertainment; current state – future state

B1  Design for Workplace; current state – future state

B2 Design For Health & Well Being; current state – future state

C1  Design & the science of new materials

C2  Interiors; developing our own agenda for sustainability

D1  Multi disciplinary practice development

D2  Technology; tools for productivity & performance

E1  Employment; career opportunities & development

E2  Continuing Professional Development

The workshops fit nicely into the overall conference program and in line with our overall industry strategy of demonstrating the broad scope of work and multi-dimensional nature of the work of interior designers

Let us have your thoughts on the workshop program that takes place during the two hour lunch time breakout session. Each workshop is 40 minute duration.

Will the Real Interior Designer Please Stand Up?

It is with some envy when I went through the cover story on today’s Straits Times – “Property agents to be regulated”.

And I wondered, if there ever would come a day for interior designers to be taken seriously enough for the industry to be regulated as well. It’s not that I’m a professional designer who knows the ins and outs of the industry at my fingertips but after you’ve been a few trade parties and networking sessions, you start hearing the same grouses after a while.

It’s usually about “designers” who over promise and under deliver, “designers” who think they are designers by buying a chair and putting it in some corner of the room and “designers” who take a picture out of a magazine and engages a “designer” to build the idea for them just because it looks “nice”.

It’s certainly sexy these days to be called a designer eh?

Professional designers – the ones i’ve spoken to – are certainly not too happy about the promiscuous use of the designation.

And you know, apparently, this isn’t just a Singapore phenomenon.

While browsing through the net for one of our speaker’s, Shashi Caan, details. I came across this article published in 2005 with her lamenting about her profession not being taken seriously. “There is someone like me who has three degrees and is passionate about the interior, wanting and struggling to improve it. This other person who has no training can be sitting with me at the same table.”

Sounds frustratingly familiar already?

The odd thing is, even though most professional designers complain about the state of the industry, the murmurs just aren’t loud enough for an industry overhaul.

Too complacent? Too comfortable?

Nah… it’s probably about being too busy to meet the deadline for tomorrow’s pitching exercise. Eh?

Unnerving Toilets!

Guess what arrived in the email today?

I just want some privacy...

But probably not in here!

A quick informal research on Google indicated that this “Don’t Miss a Sec” toilet was first showcased in December 2003 in Basel, Switzerland. (Source)

We can’t verify this info. But it sure did make our morning!

###

The Benchmarks of Design

If there ever was a evolutionary time line for design, I’m probably still stuck somewhere in the caveman era.

Anything that is remotely pleasing to the eye is ‘nice’ to me. For anybody who seeks to challenge my taste, I always have my choice defense phrase, “beauty lies in the eye of the beholder whaaaat“. The goodness or badness of a particular design is subjected to an individual’s perception of it – it’s all subjective isn’t it?

But if we were just to push that same line of logic that the perception of design is always subjective, then any design produced must have an equal number of fans and critics.

Of course that’s not the case.

Some designs have more fans than critics and then there are those designs that get trashed before they’re brought up for public criticism. Also, why would some designers be paid more per hour than others?

It makes me wonder if there is a definitive good and a definitive bad where design is concerned. If yes, what are they bench marked against? And are these benchmarks rigid enough for a fair value to be placed against the work?

I reckon knowing these benchmarks would be really useful for a businessman looking to use design to communicate his product and services which should ultimately lead to an increase in profits for his business.

So, What’s This About?

Where have you guys been?!
Yes, we know. The Interior Design Confederation has been awfully quiet over the last year or so. But we’ve got this ambitious project we’re so excited about coming up in November 2009 and we can’t wait to tell everybody about it! We could go through the traditional methods of mails and phones. But it isn’t enough. We’ve got to tell the world about it! So we’re trying something different this time with this uhm… what’s this called… yes, INTERNET and this uhm… BLOG, yes!

So what do you want to do here?
The point of this virtual space is to start a dialogue going about the value of interior design and how it impacts businesses and personal lives. Anybody can participate – as a commenter or as a contributor. It’s a space where anybody and everybody who cares about the state of the local interior design industry can gather and pitch their 2 cents worth in here. If our collective voice gets loud enough, we’ll get our renowned forum speakers to take notice and amplify the thoughts here on Nov 26 to 27, 2009. That’s where YOU want to be a part of!

I can talk about anything at all?
Of course! Anything – anything related to design that is. You’ve got complaints/grouses, we want to know! You’ve got ideals, issues, we want to know! You love, you hate some of the designs you’ve seen – even better! Put up the pictures and everybody can throw roses/ rotten eggs at them. You hate your boss – alright, we draw the line at that. But if you’ve been contributing enough to this blog, we’ll provide the rat poison to settle your personal grouses. *winks*

In the meantime, you’ll see much of our committee members contributing to this space. It’s lonely here if it’s just us, so please, write us!

###