Ah, the Good Old Days
Do you remember the “good old days” of interior design? I myself missed out on that era, as I joined the industry in 1999.
But I had mentors who told me sweet tales of that golden age of design back in the 1980s and 90s. Days when orders flowed and business boomed. When the economy was stable and the idea of a furniture or fabric company filling Chapter 11 was rare-to-unheard of. When clients trusted their design professionals and wouldn’t think of shopping around them for a better price on products.
Those good old days were not that long ago, and to hear the generation before me tell it, they must have been a beautiful thing.
Those who’ve managed to survive the past two decades have learned to get creative.
But then the 2000s hit, and with them came the Internet and hand-held devices, which made it all-too-easy for a client to press a few buttons and find those items her designer had painstakingly sourced — now at a lower price and with free shipping!
Around the same time, scores of American fabric mills were shuttered as the industry shifted its production overseas. Then, in 2008, the country was rocked by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and the resulting crash of the housing market dragged the furniture industry down with it.
Now it’s 2020: A fresh new decade. I don’t know if the furniture, fabric, and interior design industries have stabilized, but I do think that those of us who work in them have adjusted our expectations. A new normal is here, and those who’ve managed to survive the past two decades have learned to get creative.
Only by embracing change can we make it work for us.
And the truth is, not all of the changes to the world of design have been bad. Through the magic of the Internet, designers can now reach customers all over the world. Many have embraced e-design as the new Gold Rush — an opportunity to work with more potential customers then we ever could have imagined back in the “good old days.”
Other benefits of new technology include podcasts and Facebook groups that can support and enrich the knowledge base of design professionals wherever they’re located.
Designers who normally work in isolation have found new ways to connect and collaborate online, as well. The Designers Collaborative would not exist if the Internet didn’t make it possible for its members to do business all throughout North America.
If we wish to be successful, we must live in the now and deal with the present-day reality. Only by embracing change can we make it work for us. I, for one, am happy to welcome this new decade and the fresh start that 2020 has to offer us all. Happy New Year!
