9.6.10 | Susan Wiggins is executive director of the Interior Designers of Canada (IDC), the newly reorganized all-province Canadian interior design association, and former executive director of the ARIDO, where she shepherded IDC’s restructuring as a unified and strengthened voice for Canadian designers.
People >>, Prof. Associations >>
While we all consider interior design as a positive force in the world, it is also of sufficient force and effect that its misapplication may produce considerable harm. Moreover, by its very nature, the interior environment, by design, can be, and has been, used to intentionally produce significant injury. A definition of the field must encompass this.
A&D Firms >>, Random Walk >>
George Kordaris was named CEO of Moroso USA replacing Ben Watson, who previously worked for Mr. Kordaris at Vitra, but is now the design guru (Executive Creative Director) at Herman Miller. Mr. Kordaris formerly held senior positions at: Humanscale, Herman Miller, officeinsight/Design Days NY, Vitra, Vecta, and Knoll.
Norman Polsky, Hon. FASID, IDEC, IFMA, IIDA, died last Thursday, Sept. 2. He founded Fixtures Furniture, and after its sale, Mr. Polsky and his wife Elaine became energetic philanthropists, giving to many good causes, including ASID, The Center for Health Design. He was a 1990 recipient of the Design Excellence Hall of Fame Award; and recently honored by the International Interior Design Association.
People >>
Baldry and Hallier have news for workplace planners. Trying to incorporate “fun” spaces in workplaces may not be a good idea. They integrate their backgrounds in human resource management (academic and applied) and recent research literature with information about contemporary workplace experiences to reach these conclusions. Their “analysis suggests that management’s attempts to determine what is deemed fun may not only be resented by workers because it intrudes on their existing private identities but also because it seeks to reshape their values and expression.”
8.30.10 | Inscape, redoubling it’s efforts to create a strong presence in the NYC market, has acquired the intellectual property – including the trademarks, designs and proprietary tooling – of Acme Architectural Walls and has entered into a contract with Acme Sales Group, recently formed by the former owners of Acme.
Companies >>
8.30.10 | Skyline Glass is founded on the desire to find new ways to push creativity. “When we started, through naiveté we discovered new qualities about this material. We were a group of artists looking beyond the normal way of thinking, and we discovered new things.”
Companies >>
8.30.10 | In the public mind there is no understanding about what interior design is, not even confusion. So, at one end of the definitional spectrum we have the know-nothings. At the other end, we find the regulators and qualifiers, NCIDQ, the know-too-muchers or kitchen-sinkers.
Random Walk >>
8.30.10 | Who said that LEED certification points for energy saving aren’t worth a plugged nickel without yearly commissioning? Half of new buildings fail to realize their full energy savings potential. But, Convia has technology that makes it easy to commission a space on an ongoing basis.
8.30.10 | The visual and audible distance between team members is critical in fostering communication required for solid interaction. The old adage of “out of sight, out of mind” holds true in collaboration.
8.30.10 | Na Wang’s exquisitely thorough and thoughtful dissertation research investigates our emotional, attitudinal, and cognitive responses to sunlight, window views, privacy, and control. Her findings have important repercussions for workplace design.
8.23.10 | The design community has to choose how it wants its work presented and it must realize that this is an 80/20 industry with the 20% deciding where the media investments go. The editorial pages follow the advertising dollars. Contract is the only magazine that relies strictly on the commercial design industry for its revenue and, accordingly, has always presented the value of design in terms of a business return on investment.
Companies >>, People >>, Interviews >>
8.23.10 | Far from following the herd of manufacturers rushing to release yet another “me too” product, Canadian furniture company Inscape held an A&D launch event for their latest system named Tisch. Taking place at the prestigious New York event space The Glass Houses, the gathering of notable designers and industry influencers was invited to inspect the new system thoroughly, see its capabilities, and interact with Inscape’s management on the practical uses for this system.
Aesthetics in architecture and design should be, and is being, studied. A recent study found that participants had highly consistent individual preferences for particular rectangle shapes. Overall results, however, provide little or no support for the special status of the Golden Section/Ratio; few participants showed preferences that could be said to be at the Golden Section.
