Understanding Interior Design: Separating Fact from Fiction

Confronting Misconceptions in Interior Design

About 15 years ago, I had an encounter that has stuck with me throughout my career. I was introduced to my partner’s new boss, who, in an attempt to make polite conversation, asked, “So, what do you do?” When I explained that I am an interior designer, his response was, “Interior design is such a lovely hobby; my wife does that in her spare time.” My heart sank. After years of hard work to obtain my degree and build a successful interior design business, employing other skilled professionals, my career was dismissed as a mere hobby.

Sadly, this is just one of many disappointing reactions I’ve encountered when explaining my profession. Even after 20 years as a practicing interior designer—working on technical drawings in the design studio and collaborating with architects, engineers, and project managers on-site—I still face the assumption that what I do is amateur and easy.

The Disconnect: Public Perception vs. Professional Reality

It’s clear that the public’s perception of interior design does not align with how we, as interior designers, understand the value and importance of our field. Moody et al. (2015) aptly expressed that “qualified interior designers go far beyond aesthetics to improve quality of life, increase productivity, and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public within the built environment.” So, why does the public not see what we see?

A Global Challenge: Interior Design’s Identity Crisis

Through my research into the identity and practice problems faced by South African interior designers, I discovered that these frustrations are not unique to our country. Interior designers in the USA, Australia, and Britain, among others, experience similar challenges. International interior design organizations continue to seek strategies to resolve these issues, yet the identity crisis persists. But why?

The Root of the Problem: Confusion Between Interior Design and Decoration

The crux of the issue lies in the public’s conflation of interior design with interior decoration—a discipline that suffers from its own unfavorable stereotypes. This confusion can be traced back to the end of the Industrial Revolution, when the home became viewed as a purely feminine interest because women were the homemakers. As women sought work outside the home through the Women’s Suffrage movement, society deemed interior decorating an appropriate occupation for them, reinforcing the association between domesticity and femininity.

Magazines aimed at women began to proliferate, focusing on interior decorating as a “lady’s pastime.” As these publications grew in popularity, they linked decorating with the superficial aspects of high fashion, further entrenching its stereotype as a feminine, amateur pursuit.

The Gendered Perception: How It Affects Interior Design

Unfortunately, occupations associated with women are often viewed as less prestigious than those associated with men, a bias shared by both genders and ingrained in contemporary society. This perception places interior decoration—and by extension, interior design—in a lower social status compared to fields like architecture and engineering.

This historical context explains how the stereotypes of interior decorating as feminine, superficial, and amateur arose. The overlap between decorating and interior design activities has led to public confusion between the two fields. As a result, the public often perceives interior design as synonymous with decoration, leading to the propagation of negative stereotypes.

The Professional Struggle: Overcoming Occupational Stereotypes

For qualified interior designers, who have spent years studying and honing their craft, these stereotypes are incredibly frustrating. Interior designers often take offense when they are mistakenly referred to as decorators, feeling embarrassed by the association, even though decorating is a critical aspect of creating meaningful interior environments for public use.

Social Identity Theory (SIT) offers a valuable lens through which we can examine interior design’s identity problems. SIT suggests that an occupation’s public image and associated stereotypes directly impact practitioners’ feelings of self-efficacy, self-worth, and self-esteem. By applying this theory, I have identified the factors influencing interior design’s unfavorable public image and propose actionable steps that practitioners and professional organizations can take to resolve these identity issues.

Moving Forward: Unpacking the Identity Crisis in the INGROUP Blogs

The INGROUP blogs intend to delve deep into interior design’s identity challenges. It’s time for interior designers to take an objective look at the causes of our frustrations if we genuinely intend to find a resolution. I believe that once we address these identity problems, interior design will be able to firmly establish its place and value within society.

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