Hi everyone, I recently got my undergraduate degree in interior design. My goal is to use my design skills to help people and make positive social impact. However I find myself have little option but to intern at boutique studios that do residential and hospitality design. As silly as it sounds, I am unable to reconcile with the notion of luxury design to a degree that, I despise it.
I've reached out to the firms that do cultural and healthcare design only to find out they don't have openings/ no response at all.
I would like to hear your thoughts on my situation. I also would like to know if there are non-profit design organizations in NYC that I can join/ volunteer.
tduds
Jul 30, 19 6:30 pm
In what way do you hope to use interior design skills to help people and make a positive social impact? Did you go into school with this goal? or discover it along the way? or decide later it's something you value and are now trying to shoehorn into your chosen path?
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but interior design and social justice don't have a very large overlap. If you want to help, find volunteer opportunities (and not just design based ones) or donate to good causes.
thisisnotmyname
Jul 30, 19 7:18 pm
NYC is a center of luxury interior design. A big percentage of the jobs available are going to be ones at firms doing high end stuff.
You may have to gain a year or two worth of experience at whatever firm is willing to hire you before you can move on to a healthcare or cultural firm. Firms that do those type projects tend to be larger and they usually will only hire interior designers with some kind of previous professional work experience. The principles of design, production, and project management you will learn in a good entry level job are the same for any job regardless of cost or clientele and will translate to more socially conscious things you may be able to undertake in the future.
will galloway
Jul 30, 19 7:54 pm
Design is usually for the well off by the slightly less well off.
That said, waiting to get into community driven work is a good way to not do ever it. It’s not going to come up in most offices.
You can try places like MASS design and apply to them, or find out what happened to the local architecture for humanity chapter and volunteer.
Failing that you can get together with people of a like mind and take action on your own. Main thing is if you can’t find a mentor you need to remind yourself to not be an asshole, listen to what people need and be ready to discover that what most people need is not design.
Everybody starts somewhere and how you start will change what happens next. If you really want the career you described you will probably have to find your own way. The paths are not laid out for you. Might be daunting but it also means there is opportunity. Risk too. Making a business as a designer who is not taking the normal route is not likely to be the way to make money and a stable career.
Kagura
Jul 31, 19 12:18 pm
Thank you all for your replies. I am quite inspired. I wish I have heard this kind of insight from someone while still in school. But it is never too late to know the truth.
David Bruce Lee
Aug 2, 19 1:14 pm
Hi Kagura, great question. First, don't get discouraged. The building industry for architects (and to a certain degree interior designers) is a long journey. If you just graduated, I'd say give it some time and keep looking! yes, nyc is the epicenter of luxury boutique, but there are also many social issues that need to be addressed via buildings and design. here's one organization you can look into. they work with some pretty well-known offices. If you contact them, i'm sure they'd have a list of firms they usually work with.
The best thing you can do is to start networking with interior designers doing what you want to do in NYC. Find out what events they are attending and go to them, then work up the courage to ask them how they got into their specialty. Then connect with them on LinkedIn and pay attention to what they post about so you can keep learning.
If you go to the main "Design for Health" page, you'll find two co-chairs who you might want to contact. Just ask them the same question you asked here. I bet they would love to help.
Hi everyone, I recently got my undergraduate degree in interior design. My goal is to use my design skills to help people and make positive social impact. However I find myself have little option but to intern at boutique studios that do residential and hospitality design. As silly as it sounds, I am unable to reconcile with the notion of luxury design to a degree that, I despise it.
I've reached out to the firms that do cultural and healthcare design only to find out they don't have openings/ no response at all.
I would like to hear your thoughts on my situation. I also would like to know if there are non-profit design organizations in NYC that I can join/ volunteer.
In what way do you hope to use interior design skills to help people and make a positive social impact? Did you go into school with this goal? or discover it along the way? or decide later it's something you value and are now trying to shoehorn into your chosen path?
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but interior design and social justice don't have a very large overlap. If you want to help, find volunteer opportunities (and not just design based ones) or donate to good causes.
NYC is a center of luxury interior design. A big percentage of the jobs available are going to be ones at firms doing high end stuff.
You may have to gain a year or two worth of experience at whatever firm is willing to hire you before you can move on to a healthcare or cultural firm. Firms that do those type projects tend to be larger and they usually will only hire interior designers with some kind of previous professional work experience. The principles of design, production, and project management you will learn in a good entry level job are the same for any job regardless of cost or clientele and will translate to more socially conscious things you may be able to undertake in the future.
Design is usually for the well off by the slightly less well off.
That said, waiting to get into community driven work is a good way to not do ever it. It’s not going to come up in most offices.
You can try places like MASS design and apply to them, or find out what happened to the local architecture for humanity chapter and volunteer.
Failing that you can get together with people of a like mind and take action on your own. Main thing is if you can’t find a mentor you need to remind yourself to not be an asshole, listen to what people need and be ready to discover that what most people need is not design.
Everybody starts somewhere and how you start will change what happens next. If you really want the career you described you will probably have to find your own way. The paths are not laid out for you. Might be daunting but it also means there is opportunity. Risk too. Making a business as a designer who is not taking the normal route is not likely to be the way to make money and a stable career.
Thank you all for your replies. I am quite inspired. I wish I have heard this kind of insight from someone while still in school. But it is never too late to know the truth.
Hi Kagura, great question. First, don't get discouraged. The building industry for architects (and to a certain degree interior designers) is a long journey. If you just graduated, I'd say give it some time and keep looking! yes, nyc is the epicenter of luxury boutique, but there are also many social issues that need to be addressed via buildings and design. here's one organization you can look into. they work with some pretty well-known offices. If you contact them, i'm sure they'd have a list of firms they usually work with.
https://breakingground.org/
The best thing you can do is to start networking with interior designers doing what you want to do in NYC. Find out what events they are attending and go to them, then work up the courage to ask them how they got into their specialty. Then connect with them on LinkedIn and pay attention to what they post about so you can keep learning.
I just hopped on the AIANY website, and I see that the healthcare committee is meeting on Tuesday at 6pm. Go to the meeting and speak to any of the people milling about after the session.
If you go to the main "Design for Health" page, you'll find two co-chairs who you might want to contact. Just ask them the same question you asked here. I bet they would love to help.
Network, network, network!
https://massdesigngroup.org/co...
head out if you want to help.