Book Review - Professional Practice for Interior Designer

This book is written by Christine M. Piotrowski, a former interior design professor who was also the author of many books about interior design. She is also someone who gives consultation to interior designers through her firm, Christine M. Piotrowski and Associates in Arizona.

In this book she discussed about interior design profession, from knowing what it stands for, how to prepare it, behaving in professional manner according to the standards, to working in different types of environment. The book started by defining the job in detail as well as its responsibility to the environment, including why we should design in sustainable way. Some overview of the history of interior designing is also explained, stating that it was not even looked as a profession back then and it is different with interior decorating.

In the following chapter, there are steps that can guide us in becoming a professional and licensed interior designer. Also, the ethical codes that we must follow are also listed down here. The book discussed further about this by elaborating the responsibilities that a designer will hold according to the law.

The book has a guide on how to calculate design fees and create the design contract, what we must write inside and what are the terms that shall be followed. There are also a lot of chapters that will discuss more about managing projects, its phases, following the contract up to construction and delivering it to the clients.

Lastly, we can also find some tips on how to start up our own interior design firm, its cost and licensing, how to plan its future career and managing the income that we get. We will be taught about how to market our own company and promote it to the public. For those who already have a company and expanding it, they can learn about managing employees as well.

In conclusion, I think this book is very good as it gives a thorough explanation about the interior design profession. It can be a handbook for us through our career from taking formal education, internship, getting our first job, practicing to be a better and more professional employee, to opening our own company and getting more client, presenting our work professionally, creating legal documents and managing our income. On each chapter there are references and websites that we can read in addition to the book itself to expand our knowledge, so it is very useful for its readers. If you are interested, you can read the preview in https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=-eJvAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false or buy a copy of the book in this site http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211978.Professional_Practice_for_Interior_Designers

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