When I started as an interior designer I had no training and no tools. Because of my dyslexia, going to school was really not the best option for me. But I was committed and determined. I trained myself to do scale drawings, to do all the things required to be able to execute a job. I was an assistant for somebody and saw the pitfalls first-hand, I learned to go to the marketplace and what it took to produce and put a job together. I did presentation boards, drafting and I paid my dues, maybe with a lot of loose change, but I learned through experience and a lot of very hard work.

Very often these days people think that because they like shopping at expensive design stores they have what it takes to become a designer. I think that to start one’s career because of contract or style, without really getting all the things it requires to be able to call yourself a professional in place could be interpreted as unfair to those who have paid their dues – be it by working their way up from the bottom, or by going to school and learning to do it that way. (I’m also considering the clients that are going to have to suffer through one’s learning curve!)

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe those who went to school would say that about me who didn’t go to school. What pitfalls have you who didn’t go to school experienced? And the ones who did go to school? Let’s share our pitfalls with those who feel that merely a good eye and connections can start them in this business.

Presenting to me is one of the two most exciting parts of a job. I’m putting forward my creative solution to the problem, but it can be challenging. By now I think you all know how I present to a client. I give a presentation of what I think is the right thing and I very rarely give options. Once we get to presentation stage I feel a 100% committed to what I’m presenting and that it is the best for the space. However, sometimes a situation warrants giving a choice. It’s usually for the benefit of the client and to make them a participant in the process. (I always ensure that I would be happy with either option, by the way.)

For clients that are unsure of what they like, the presentation process can be daunting. Many times they want to see twenty things because this gives them an out. In my experience, the more choice you give these clients, the more confused they get.

If a client says ‘I don’t like this because…I don’t like the color / The material doesn’t please me / etc. you have to try and get from them what the color is that they want and what about the material it is that doesn’t please them – and what would. Always, these issues were already addressed in the first meeting, but sometimes a client just doesn’t know what he/she wants and are not sure themselves why they don’t like something. These are tricky situations and I guess guiding them through the process is what great designers do well.

Friends say “give them choices and make your life easy”. I don’t know. I find it hard a) to design two or three different ways of creatinga space and b) being unemotional about the one I feel is the best answer. What are your experiences about giving options when presenting your design idea to clients?

In all the thirty dot dot dot years that I’ve been in business I’ve never let a client take over a job – I’m too controlling. But that recently changed. A client that I’ve been working with for many years was redoing an apartment in New York that I originally did 9 years ago. (I’ve worked with them on many other projects over the years.) We estimated the job, presented it and then the client said “Oh I know a contractor, I can get it cheaper, I’ll hire my people”.

I still got paid my commission, but lost control of the project. The client was talking to the contractor directly, changing things without discussing it with me and became a real loose canon. The reality was that the contractor the client hired turned out to be horrible. but by that time it was like a stampede of horses – with the client changing things, going out and shopping it and completely taking over the job.

The result? It has been time-consuming and everything is taking twice as long to complete. The client has not allowed the job to be done and anytime somebody is judging a finished product before actually finishing it, they are not seeing the completed thought.

My lesson? All the things that I’m always preaching “Don’t do, Don’t do” I’ve gone and done. So ‘Mea Culpa’, I’m paying the price for not listening to my own advice. This project has been a nightmare and has driven a real wedge between me and one of my favorite clients. Something that I for sure never want to repeat again. Has this ever happened to you?

Last week Parsons had a career day and invited different architects and designers to visit the school and talk with students who are looking for internships. I’m always fascinated that schools don’t really give the students a sure-fire method of presentation or teach them how to really put across their concepts. I think that they’re focusing on developing within the student a concept, but they don’t give them the tools in how to sell that concept and successfully put it across.

I sat with around 15 students and I was disappointed in seeing how few of them were able to sell their book to me and explain their concepts in a clear and concise way. That was most of what I was telling them – how to sell it, what to eliminate, what to say, what not to say. So many of them started off by apologizing, which is he kiss of death.

Many of the questions coming through this blog focus on presentation skills. If you don’t know how to present your thoughts it’s like getting on a ship without a map of where you’re headed. It’s a sure trajectory to getting lost. I feel that it’s our duty as professionals to share information and experiences. And I’m not saying that my way is the right way. I can only say that my way has carried me through 37 years of business with very few failures at presentation time.

Do you share your experiences with others? How can we as an industry ensure that students and other professionals are equipped to sell their concepts and ensure success?

It’s hard to believe – with the economy being what it is -that so many vendors are still not pampering and following through and catering to us designers who are providing them with business. “Oh, the truck broke down, the glass broke, the workman didn’t show up today”, or the ‘I’m not going to answer your phone call or return it’ and the sort of excuses I have heard for years which say to me “I don’t give a shit about you” just makes me so angry.

Naturally I’m not saying every supplier, but I will tell you this, the ones that are doing this to me will not work with my firm anymore. It’s hard enough trying to find clients and trying to keep the relationships with the clients smooth. Who needs a supplier throwing a spanner in the works?

Are you all having similar problems? Please commiserate with me if you do!

I had my second meeting with the consultation client and, after I gave her an assignment the first time, she came back with a plan of her apartment and showed me her different solutions. It was interesting to discuss her design process and to look at what solutions she had discovered. Still, my challenge was to try and infuse in her a free-er quality to her work. After discussing the process she went through, I showed her some other options, incorporating her ideas and the lightbulb went on!

I think the strongest point in talking to her was that the plans that she had brought were all furniture plans. I believe that one should really decide how one is going to reallocate the background before even starting to add furniture. What she was doing was to move a few walls so she could place the furniture, where my thinking is to really bring the background to a 100% and then the furniture sort of places itself in the space.

After her showing great insecurity about her creativity during our first session and wanting to know from me what good design was, it was such a great surprise to see pictures of a home she did for herself in the country as well as an apartment in NYC and just how wonderful it was. It wasn’t quite completed and I gave her some suggestions, but I think her fear overrode her style and her talent.

It’s so important that we trust what we do and are realistic when we look at our work without underselling ourselves. After all, if you don’t believe in your work, how do you expect the client to?

Yesterday I had a group of students come from Parson with their lecturer and fellow interior designer, Kitty Hawks and I showed them how I present a job. We used a job that I just presented three weeks ago, from beginning to end and I probably should have done some refreshing on all the elements of the presentation, but I think they got the point. We discussed how to answer clients’ questions, what instructions you give a client at the beginning – here’s a pad, write down your questions and we’ll discuss them at the end – and I showed them the renderings, materials and the pace that I follow in presenting a job. I think it was a valuable session for these students, who lapped up the information and kept the questions coming. What a great idea of Kitty’s, and fun for me to get to share important information with those just learning the ropes.