The Hidden Skills All Interior Designers Need to Have
Everyone knows that good interior designers need to have a whole range of skills. They need to be good with colour, good with textiles, good with bringing a scheme together. But aside from all of the design work, there are also a raft of hidden skills that interior designers need to have.
Hidden Skill #1: Marriage Counselling
You may laugh at this one, but honestly, if I had a pound for every couple that has stood in front of me arguing about how they want a design to look, I would be lying on a beach right now, instead of writing this!
A successful interior designer needs to be able to listen to both clients’ opinions and help to navigate them towards a unified and cohesive scheme, whilst also keeping the peace and not taking sides!
Hidden Skill #2: Mind Reading
Most people engage an interior designer because they don’t know what they want, or how to achieve what they want. One of the most important jobs an interior designer has is to get into their client’s “groove”. With careful questioning the designer needs to suss out what’s in the client’s mind, not always an easy task!
You need to be able to read between the lines of what they are telling you, to elicit the sort of look they want, even if they don’t know how to articulate it for themselves.
Hidden Skill #3: Plate Spinning
Being an interior designer isn’t just about doing the design work, it’s also about being able to manage a project.
A designer needs to be able to manage and co-ordinate contractors, purchase orders, furniture deliveries and project timescales. There are a lot of plates to spin!
And of course, you need to keep a professional veneer at all times; making the client feel reassured that all is on track, which sometimes requires you to appear as though you are gliding calmly across the water, whilst your feet are paddling frantically underneath the surface.
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About the Author
Kate Hatherell is the founder of The Interior Designers Hub and a qualified interior design professional with extensive experience in the industry. She has helped hundreds of students transition into successful interior design careers through The Interior Designers Hub’s UK government accredited Level 3 Diploma in Professional Interior Design and the Hub Insiders business membership programme. Kate is also a consultant and professional advisor to AIM Qualifications & Assessment Group, providing industry insights to the development of new interior design qualifications in the UK. Kate also runs SketchUp training courses, which are used by students across the world. She is committed to providing practical, industry-relevant education that prepares students for real-world interior design careers.