Contract Magazine - September 2019 - 68

NEWS

Design Impacts today
A roundtable discussion at ICFF discussed
the most relevant issues we are facing today.
By Paul Makovsky

AMERICAN
SOCIETY OF
INTERIOR
DESIGNERS

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As part of a large strategic partnership announced earlier this year, the American
Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and Emerald Expositions launched new
roundtable discussions with subject-matter experts and design leaders in each
sector that will help shape the future of the practice. During ICFF in May, ASID CEO
Randy Fiser, Hon. FASID and Contract magazine Editor-In-Chief Paul Makovsky
hosted an in-depth conversation with thought leaders on the most important topics in
design. Designers and attendees included: Joseph Cephas, ASID; Deanna Hamilton
and Jenna Kaba of Emerald Expositions; Tricia Moore, LEED AP, RID, TVS Design;
Anurag Nema, AIA, Nemaworkshop; Caroline Robbie, ARIDO, IDC, NCIDQ, Quadrangle;
Elizabeth Von Lehe, Allied ASID, HDR; Angelina Deaconesa, LEED AP, Ted Moudis
Associates; Nina Etnier, Float Studio; Bill Bouchey, ASID, HOK; Masako Fukuoka,
Jeffrey Beers International; and Cindi Kato, CallisonRTKL.
ASID believes that design impacts lives and collaborates with partners, such
as Contract, to promote the value of interior design. This roundtable comes on the
heels of similar events held at Environments for Aging and HDExpo. This detailed
report from Contract examines the central themes expressed by the esteemed
group designers.
One of the opening themes asked designers what issue was keeping them
up at night. Responses varied, ranging from the dichotomy of working with
different generations of clients to managing extremely aggressive timelines, in
addition to the need to educate clients about what the design process really
entails. In response to this, one firm does more workshops with clients and sees
the idea of cocreation as a more productive approach. Finding the right design
talent-people with the right attitude and the ability to be flexible-is another
challenge. One firm's approach in addressing talent is their shift away from

68

mentoring emerging designers (which they see as too hierarchical), and instead
focusing on coaching, with the expectation that this structure gives new
designers entering the workforce more choice and a feeling of being on a more
equal playing field.
Skilled labor-especially working with contractors-was a pressing issue,
with firms trying to find new and more efficient ways of collaborating, especially
in such a crowded market. For some other designers, one challenge is the process
of introducing skilled labor to unusual and innovative materials, processes, or
building techniques, such as the use of mass timber. And even more so, how to
design projects that achieve net zero. Having the right skilled labor to help in all of
this is a challenge for many. How do you figure out where that stop gap is and from
where is the training coming from for these new products and services? Related to
this, some firms are spending more on training existing staff-training everyone on
how to better use the latest technology, how to have better presentation
techniques, or even providing hands on training to do more functional things such
as storyboarding.
How do we improve skills in an office? The group talked about how one
small firm, Float Studio, began Float School-which meets weekly as a way to do
skill sharing in addition to keeping their standards somewhat consistent. It's also
a way to engage the team and celebrate team members' strengths and allow
people on staff to feel a sense of ownership and authority when they're really
excelling in a certain area. "It's increased everybody's sense of a buy-in to our

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Contract Magazine - September 2019

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