Читать книгу Professional Practice for Interior Designers - Christine M. Piotrowski - Страница 43

Professional associations have existed, in one form or another, since the early days of the interior design profession. This section begins with a brief history of professional associations for interior designers.

In some ways, the large associations that we know today began as local clubs focusing on the needs of decorators within a small geographic area. By the late 1920s, many local decorators' clubs had been started. The New York Decorators' Club is credited with being one of the first.

In many respects, these early clubs functioned more as social clubs than as groups focusing on professional education and standards. Standards for membership existed, but they varied from one group to another.

The first national association was the American Institute of Interior Decorators (AIID), established as part of the proceedings of the 1931 furniture market and show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. William R. Moore was elected the first AIID national president. In 1936, the organization moved its headquarters from Chicago to New York City and changed its name to the American Institute of Decorators (AID). Over the years, education and work experience requirements for membership changed and became more stringent.

In 1957, a group belonging to the New York branch of AID broke off and formed the NSID. For many years, disagreements over qualifications, testing, and terminology continued between the two organizations. In 1961, the American Institute of Decorators became the American Institute of Interior Designers (AID). Finally, in 1975, the American Institute of Interior Designers and the NSID overcame their differences and merged into one national organization, the ASID. Norman de Haan, FASID, took office as the first ASID national president.

In the late 1960s, the Institute of Business Designers (IBD) was incorporated to meet the needs of the commercial/contract designer. Charles Gelber was elected the first IBD president in 1970. IBD was conceived in 1963 by members of the National Office Furnishings Association (NOFA), who were concerned about the quality of interior design service in office furnishings dealerships. In 1963, NOFA‐d (NOFA‐designers) was formed to accommodate interior designers who were working for office furnishings dealers.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the professional associations discussed unifying into one national organization. Although this effort did not bear fruit, in 1994 the members of IBD, the International Society of Interior Designers (ISID), and the Council for Federal Interior Designers (CFID) agreed to unify and created the International Interior Design Association (IIDA).

Of course, several other professional associations have been established to meet the needs of the various members of the design profession. Today, the three largest professional associations are the ASID, the IIDA, and Interior Designers of Canada (IDC). Each will be briefly discussed later in this section.