What is Design Anyway?

I follow Joni Webb's blog, Cote de Texas regularly, and recently was elated because she ran a piece on ASID and their bulldog attack on designers who practice without being "licensed". Well, this is a subject near and dear to my heart. ( Just ask my family who have heard my soapbox speeches for many years.) To me designing rooms and homes is an art and I believe art is individual and largely innate. We as humans all possess it in some ways, I believe. Therefore, I don't believe artistic expression can or should be legally controlled in any way. The areas involving structure and safety fall into the architect's realm.

This morning while having my coffee, I was scanning through a few of the ten thousand catalogs I get every day, and came across the Sundance catalog from the actor Robert Redford. He promotes hand-made jewelry, clothes, and items for the home. On the inside cover, he talks about the other part of his life, art and painting. Here is a thought-provoking quote by him on the subject of what art is:

"There are many avenues under the broad categories called art, but at its core, to me,
art is simply the language of the soul"

So, there you go. Whether your medium is paint, pen and ink, or furniture and textiles, you can design if you want to. But we better watch the people who want to legislate what is literally the language of the soul. Those of us who are lucky enough to see the world this way should never take for granted the ability to express it.

Thank God agencies like this weren't around when these guys were working!