The Future of Furniture Specification Starts in the Classroom

The next generation of interior designers is sitting in classrooms right now, learning how to think about space, people, materials and the built environment. They are also beginning to develop something that will matter enormously to the office furniture industry. They are figuring out how to decide what products belong in those spaces. That makes interior design education more than a pipeline issue for design firms. It is an industry issue. The relationship between education and furniture specification will be the subject of an upcoming BIFMA webinar, 'From Classroom to Specification: Why Interior Design Education Matters to Furniture Manufacturers.' BIFMA and the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) will bring together an interior design educator and practitioner to discuss how education shapes professional practice, specification decisions and the future workforce. Unfortunately, you must be a BIFMA member to attend, but if you are a member, I'd highly recommend it (and I would urge BIFMA to open this important topic to everyone in the industry). The webinar is a useful reminder of a larger reality that the furniture industry doesn't always talk about enough. Manufacturers don't just sell products to today's designers. They are building relationships with the people who will specify products 10, 20 and 30 years from now. And those relationships begin long before a designer gets a job at a major architecture or interior design firm. Interior design education establishes the foundation for professional judgment. Students learn how to understand clients and users, analyze spaces, develop concepts, solve problems and make decisions. They learn about materials, lighting, acoustics, ergonomics, sustainability, accessibility, codes and the many technical requirements that turn an idea into a functioning interior. Furniture is woven through virtually all of it. The better designers understand those connections, the better decisions they can make. That's why the quality of interior design education should matter to manufacturers. The industry is changing rapidly. Products are becoming more technically sophisticated. Sustainability has moved beyond recycled content and into questions about carbon, material health, circularity and product life cycles. Technology is increasingly embedded in furniture and workplace environments. Data is influencing how spaces are planned and evaluated. Ergonomics, acoustics, neuroinclusion and wellness are increasingly part of the conversation. Designers entering the profession need to be prepared for all of that. But education isn't simply about teaching students the latest product category or giving them a list of manufacturers they should know. In fact, that may be the least important part. The more important lesson is how to evaluate information. A good interior design education teaches students to ask questions. What problem is this product solving? Who will use it? Does it perform as promised? What evidence supports the manufacturer's claims? How will it age? What happens at the end of its useful life? Does it meet the project's performance requirements? Is it appropriate for the budget? Can it be maintained? Is it accessible to the people who will use it? Those questions create better designers and better specifiers. They also create better customers for manufacturers. This is one reason the work of CIDA is so important. CIDA accredits interior design programs and establishes educational standards that define baseline expectations for what graduates should know and be able to do. As those standards evolve, they influence what future designers bring into professional practice. CIDA's forthcoming review of its standards creates an opportunity for the furniture industry to participate in that conversation. Holly Mattson, CIDA's chief executive officer, will discuss the organization's role during the BIFMA webinar. Jennifer Graham, managing principal at Perkins&Will, will bring the perspective of professional practice, while Tina Patel, associate professor and interim program coordinator of interior design at Kent State University, will provide the viewpoint of an educator. The mix is important because there is often a disconnect between education and practice. Design schools have to teach fundamentals that will remain relevant long after today's trends have disappeared. Firms, meanwhile, need graduates who can step into increasingly complicated projects and understand the practical realities of budgets, schedules, procurement, documentation and product specification. Manufacturers sit somewhere in the middle. They can help close that gap. There are obvious ways to do it is through internships, scholarships, product demonstrations, materials libraries, factory tours, guest lectures and studio critiques. Manufacturer representatives can work with faculty to explain how products are developed and tested. Designers can talk to students about what actually happens when a specification leaves the classroom and enters a real project. But there is an opportunity to go further. Manufacturers should be listening to educators, too. Faculty members have a different view of the profession, which is precisely why Pratt professor Jon Otis is a columnist for officeinsight magazine. He sees students coming through the system year after year. He sees where students are prepared and where they struggle. And he sees emerging interests before those interests necessarily become mainstream practice. That information is valuable. The furniture industry can learn a great deal by asking educators what today's students need to know to become effective designers tomorrow. And manufacturers shouldn't view this solely as altruism. There is a business case for it. Designers influence specifications. Specifications influence sales. And the habits designers develop early in their careers can stick with them. There is also a larger issue at stake. Interior design is sometimes still treated as a profession primarily concerned with aesthetics. Anyone who has worked on a complicated commercial project knows that description falls far short. Interior designers are problem solvers. They work at the intersection of human behavior, architecture, technology, materials, business and the physical environment. Their decisions can affect health, productivity, accessibility, sustainability and the way people experience the places where they spend their time. That requires a serious educational foundation. The furniture industry benefits when that foundation is strong. Manufacturers need designers who can understand increasingly complex products. Dealers need designers who can communicate what their clients actually need. Architecture and design firms need graduates who can contribute to projects without spending years learning fundamentals they should have encountered in school. And clients ultimately benefit from better-informed design decisions. The BIFMA webinar provides a timely opportunity to talk about all of this, particularly as CIDA considers the next evolution of its standards. But the conversation shouldn't end with the webinar or with the standards review. The industry should be involved in education continuously. That's why officeinsight magazine is beginning a new program that will bring the industry to design schools across the country. Our enterprise subscribers — those companies who purchase a company-wide subscription to officeinsight — will now have the option to gift subscriptions to the design school of their choice. Each week, students receiving the gift subscriptions will be reminded of the company that provided the benefit. If manufacturers want future designers to understand performance, materials, sustainability, technology and the realities of specification, they can't wait until those designers walk into a showroom with a project in hand. They need to meet them earlier. The classroom is where many of the habits that shape a designer's career begin. It is where students learn what questions to ask, where to look for answers and what constitutes a good design decision. For the furniture industry, that's a pretty important place to be.