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| Sunday, 6 July 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Interior Design : Opening windows of opportunity by Jayanthi Liyanage Designing interiors certainly goes beyond curtains or carpets. Or, furniture or fixtures. Or, the window dressings, the tacky finishes and the lot. While all those are important parts of what goes to make that "interior-ed" space one calls one's own home or work station, designing suitable and most effective interiors is actually about tailoring that most perfect space which fits its owner, or user, like a glove. For those who have a knack for designing interiors and love this hobby horse, designing spaces may seem like a lark. Yet, it is a fully-developed art in itself, and a human science of logic, reasoning and fundamental needs and comforts. For interiors are what reflect a person's or a group's dreams, desires, needs, goals and the lifestyles they aspire to. And one must tread carefully when treading on the extremely delicate grounds of one's dreams. Making interiors is also about clearing clutter in one's life, and creating artful spaces, with colour, lighting, textures and patterns to weave music, rhythm and direction, and also ambition or complacency, into one's daily work or living. The blending of colour, style, artifacts, rugs, potted plants and all the surrounding paraphernalia must be braided in such a way as not to jar the easy flowing space in one's interior, and not to confuse or overload one's senses. You will find that when you design living spaces of home or attic, or working spaces of office or one's own private work station, there will be many opportunities presenting themselves to you which can make a difference in the architectural quality and character of space in the interior which will provide you with a unique living area for years to come. It is the character of the interior, and the significant ambience of this livable, workable and dreamable space, which produce individuals to match the harmony of the interior's personality and temperament. The one-year Diploma in Interior Design of the Academy of Design (formerly known as the New York School of Visual Arts) seeks to provide an answer to the demands of the modern world to conceive different types of space and create environments. The Academy's curriculum takes on a broad spectrum of interior design, expanding into residential, corporate, retail, hotel and hospitality design. Annette Wendling-Willeke, Architect/Interior Designer and the Principal of the Academy, being a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, has herself designed the current interior design curriculum of the Academy. As Annette explains, "The main emphasis of the programme is on design theory, illustration and materials. During the course, students visit a variety of projects, sites and industries as opportunities for exposure to real world experiences." Certainly, the step 'No.1' is to know what materials and methods are available locally and internationally, to create one's interiors. One can make a start with the various textures of wood, glass, pebbles and other designing material available to the resourceful interior designer. The school does not look for a technical background when enroling students for interior designing, as technical drawing is taught in the duration of the course. The course, taking art study as its foundation, also cover Feng Shui/Vastu, exhibition and event design, lighting and technical aspects, digital design Adobe Photo Shop, Autocad and 3-D Studio Max. A rudimentary 'interior riddle' tossed at you by the Academy of Design might be as follows: "He is Portuguese by birth and a film scriptwriter with a special interest in South Asian colonial history and needs to host a great deal of precious books on the subject. He uses a personal computer, a laptop and a very old mechanical typewriter. She is Sri Lankan and a businesswoman with an upmarket boutique for ladies' jackets produced in South Asia. Two men run her shop in London and she travels a lot to promote her work in Europe. Both love entertaining people at dinner. Can you design their vernacular house in Kandy?" Effective interior designing caters to this new social imagery and its coherent sensibilities in the medium of 'interior,' releasing the borders of propriety, time and culture in the exhilaration of self-expression. |
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