TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER..... DESIGNER...

TINKER:  an itinerant tinsmith and mender of household utensils made out of tin

TAILOR: is a person who makes, repairs or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing

SOLDIER: a member of the local land component of national armed forces 

DESIGNER: a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that specifies the structural properties of a design object. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics is referred to as a designer 

DECORATOR: also called interior designer a person whose profession is the planning of the decoration and furnishings of interiors of houses, shops, etc

2. a person whose job is to design the interior of someone's home, by choosing colours, carpets, materials and furnishing

Each profession, a value to society. But why the definitions you ask?

Well I think it's important to keep the line drawn in the sand and make sure we can see which side of the line designates which professions have more value. Don't you agree?

There is often discussion on SM sites and on TV design / decor shows regarding the distinction between a designer and a decorator.  The above definition of a designer is very broad and may include anyone from a video game designer to a custom pillow cover designer....in fact, I'm going to include a DIYer.  The definition for Decorator, however is very clear....they design the interiors of clients' homes, speccing furniture, finishes and accessories.  So why the confusion, why the discussion? The confusion for many people is when you preface the word designer with the word interior....hence Interior Designer.

Now, I'm not about to go on some diatribe about the pros and cons, number of years at school,  obtaining a degrees vs a certificate....I also assume there are different standards and requirements in the US as well.....if you're interested, you can look it up yourself. NOT what this post is about and for the purpose of this post I'm referring to Residential as opposed to Commercial design.

I am a Residential Interior Decorator by training,  but by definition, I am also a Designer...however, I may not, legally in Canada, refer to myself as a Residential Interior Designer ...and I don't.  NCIDQ has some fairly rigorous requirements to have the designation of Interior Designer bestowed upon you.

...are we really talking apples vs. oranges here?

In some cases yes, but the modern day Residential Interior Decorator / Designer each has expertise in their chosen field and often the expertise overlaps. I am finding due to SM that the line drawn in the sand is becoming fainter ...we are sharing ever-evolving, new found information, learning from each other. Expanding our knowledge base to the betterment of our industry ... and the client, who after all is the ultimate beneficiary.

Unfortunately, I have also seen the negative side of SM bashes, where some designers openly criticize, demean and are disrespectful to other designers.  I cannot fathom why?  As far as I'm concerned, it serves no purpose other than to insight more negative feedback....it does NOTHING positive to promote the design industry or indeed,  the bad-mouthing designer.
Are we all equally fantastic designers? Not a chance. Some of us have the design bug, go to school, are  accredited and become successful, recognized designers.  Others of us have the design bug, don't go to school, apprentice or work our butts off and become successful, recognized designers. Beyond this, however, we ARE indeed comparing apples to oranges. The two things that distinguish a good designer from a great designer regardless of the route chosen, is TALENT and PASSION ...because all the keen interest, homework, hours spent on the job and credentials amount to nothing but a hill of beans if you have not got TALENT and PASSION.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm thinking 'Bob', the original wheel designer from around the 8th millennium, had some major talent, passion and of course the enormous need to move heavy stuff from A to B. He was known back then as "the mesolithic guy of invention".

But, let's face it folks....the wheel has already been invented. Our job as designers is to reinterpret, rework, reimagine...redesign the wheel...take it to a different status.  The only way to achieve this is to utilize the various talent, passion and expertise of ALL designers.

And may I suggest, that we ALWAYS endeavour to show our respect to the global design community.