The Interior Design Profession in a Period of Political Uncertainty

During political and economic uncertainty, the interior design profession is at risk. People decide that their home doesn’t need the extension yet, the shop refurbishment can wait, the hotel 5-year plan programmed upgrade will be scaled down to a ‘patch-up’ and budgets for marketing, PR and promotion are terminated or squeezed to the minimum.

A large corporation has in-house finance meetings and accountants to guide and foresee issues arising, but smaller businesses are mainly operated, managed, and developed all by one person; the owner. When your day job ends, your financial and business development job begins. It is this sector of the design industry – the Small Medium Enterprises (SME) and Micro Small Medium Enterprise MSME that suffer first.

I have always worked in this sector of industry and government lobby groups as it is the link between consumer protection (where I was licensed by the Office of Fair Trading) and start-up business. Because this is is the seed. This is the idea sector. It is where the business begins, but once it moves to the corporate world, I always felt that the ideas people are shut down and the corporate wheel begins to turn by a different group of people – the professionals – this group are the legals, the bean counters (AKA Accountants), the HR teams; the safety and compliance that keeps the business liquid and generates the funds.

The difference in these two groups is that together, they use both sides of the brain and yet neither can excel without the input of the other.

In business, when the corporate cycle grasps the creative cycle, you often find that personalities begin to take over – and that’s where issues begin.

Orkun Indere Interiors – Log House Extension

We are entering into a period of uncertainty because generally, the world appears to be disillusioned with global politicians. But perhaps it was always like this and we just didn’t know about it in the past? Or is the world’s greed and selfish virtues now overtaking the real meaning of life – to have fun, be kind, work hard and achieve your best. It is now the time of year in Britain, as a Christian country, when we are reminded to reflect on our behaviour and outcomes. For once, wouldn’t it be nice if the interior design world – which can often be excessive and indulgent – stopped for a moment and did something for nothing for someone with less? What goes around, comes around eventually and just maybe, we can fire up the interior design profession to behave in an ethical manner and show politicians what we expect in the next five years of the UK’s leadership!