The Increasing Popularity of Interior Designing as a Career

In recent years, our country has been subjected to noteworthy changes regarding the realms of lifestyle, employment, and migration. Individuals are gradually innovating their way of living and are developing tastes for dynamic, high-end lifestyles. A flashy lifestyle includes a nicely designed home, and Indians these days like their homes to be extravagant and, at the same time, comfortable. Tapan K Chakravarty, Head of Department – Interior Design, School of Design, Pearl Academy has shared some words of wisdom below on the steadily increasing popularity of Interior Design as a career.

Tell us something about Interior Design?

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Interior design is a relatively young and constantly evolving discipline, which emerged in the late 19^th and early 20^th century in England and the US. It was only in the 20^th century that interior design developed into a profession with specialized training, standards and professional associations. The taste was transformed into skill and untrained amateurs became qualified practitioners.

The scope of the projects also changed from largely residential design in the beginning to various forms of non-residential design, and from the design of solely private spaces to the public realm. The complexity of the projects, as well as specialized expertise, ultimately resulted in specialized training, different from architecture. Interior decoration is the work of an amateur, while interior design denotes the profession of a skilled practitioner and the move from mere aesthetic considerations to concrete problem-solving.

What are the skill sets required to be an Interior Designer?

Passion for interiors, creativity, spatial imagination, and aesthetic judgement are the prerequisites of any designer. There is both an aesthetic creative element to design as well as analytical problem-solving skills. Yet, ultimately one does not only design beautiful rooms that need to fulfil a specific function, one needs to have good psychological skills and be able to translate clients’ needs and ideas into a design scheme.

What are the working hours and job opportunities?

Interior design is not really a job but a vocation. I believe it is one of the most beautiful and rewarding things to do. Thus, office hours from 9-5 do not really apply because a true interior designer thinks about interior design all the time. When a project needs to be finished, odd hours certainly apply. With the massively growing Real Estate sector, home furnishing industry, there are many opportunities for young inspiring designers. It is important to be entrepreneurial and look for opportunities in many different areas.

How should one select the right design school for this course?

The choice of school is personal and depends on the applicant’s personal interests. A good school should offer a variety of courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Apart from an agile curriculum, nurturing environment, and interdisciplinary learning, the institute should offer industry exposure and site visits as well as international exchange programs to offer an ideal exposure to the students.

The Indian education system has adequately prepared itself to cope with this contemporary segment of Interior Design. Premier institutes like Pearl Academy offer Interior Design courses at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels. However, the final decision rests with you!