FEMININE PERSPECTIVES
Why do women dominate in this field? One of the attractions of interior design or interior architecture as a career is its openness and flexibility. This applies to both the kinds of project interior designers take on and the ways in which they work.
“It all starts with interior design education,” says Professor Joanna Merwood-Salisbury of the Faculty of Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington. “Not being bound by the restrictions of professional accreditation, which dictates the kinds of course offered, we can teach interior design ideas and skills from the broadest possible base.”
Merwood-Salisbury says this might include methods borrowed from the fine arts, theatre, fashion, graphic design, museum and exhibition studies, and a range of other interiors-related fields.
“When they graduate, interior designers take that flexible approach with them into their practices. Thinking broadly about what they are doing is naturally aligned to thinking broadly about how they do it,” she explains. “The possibility of working collaboratively, cooperatively, part time and as consultants or sole practitioners is particularly attractive to women who aren’t necessarily interested in the traditional professional career path. In turn, practising in different ways attracts non-traditional clients. It might involve working with individual families in their homes, with community groups or with teams of other professionals on a project basis.”
A woman’s view can be refreshing to a client in the midst of an often-male-led building project, suggests Marcie Reddell from Queenstown practice Interior Workroom. “With residential projects, you
