My road to being an interior designer

I am forever grateful that I have been given the opportunity to jump in this industry. I guess life will always and always take you towards the things that you focus on and desire. In that I completely believe in. Although there are always ups and downs within the process, but if you really want it, and if you're good enough at it, you'll get it. I've loved art since I can't even remember. I've always known that I wanted to be in the creative industry. I wanted to be a violinist, a stylist, a set decorator, a shrink. It just came naturally. As a child I enjoyed crafting,  painting and traveling. By traveling, it gave me a lot of insights of cultures and people. Which leads me to enjoy different cultures. I find cultures beautiful! Anyway, I think it is important (if you're a parent) to know and explore what is it that your child desire and excel at. And if you look closely, you can actually see it.

In high school, my friends wanted to be engineers, accountants, doctors. As for me, I wanted to be:

1. Landscape architect: I thought it was so me. I could design, travel and and my country is in desperate need of parks etc. Now that I think of it I laugh, because landscape architects actually work way more beyond that.

I remember my teacher once asked the class who wanted to be in the design industry. And I rose my hand confidently, with I think only two or three other kiddos in class (in a class of 40 something) and my teacher asked me in which field I want to enter. I said landscape architecture. One day my teacher asked me to join a drawing competition, I was quite shocked yet flattered. I've never joined a drawing competition before. I don't know, perhaps my teacher saw that I had potential? At the competition I actually got a compliment from an artist or an art observer. What I'm trying to say is that, somehow life is trying to drive me into that direction (design). Another thing I remember in art and design class was that I insisted to work on my perspective drawings on my own, no matter how hard it was, I really wanted to learn, I don't want anyone else to draw it for me. While my peers were asking for others to draw for them. I think that was really the point that I knew, that I love design and no matter how hard, I want to put my 100% effort on learning it.

2. Dentist: I loved biology, I love helping people, and by being a dentist I could craft in people's mouths lol.

So here's the fact, the funny thing is that I never really wanted to be a doctor in my track record of dreams at least. ONLY in 12th grade had I thought of being a doctor. And now I wonder why in the world I almost took the test of entering medical school LOL. Although I was pretty good and enjoyed biology. I always knew that I wanted to do the 'fun' stuff.

My parents both have engineering backgrounds. So I was pretty well informed and know quite a bit about the subject, but engineering didn't interest me at all.  However I am very lucky to have parents that are quite liberal and they support whatever I choose. The bottom line is actually deep inside, you really know what you want. You just have to have the confidence to stand up and say 'yes, this is me and this is what I want'.

Anyway, long story short, I was admitted in the interior design program and I took it. Because I was already admitted and happy enough with the major I didn't take the test of landscape architecture.
Guess what? I LOVE it! It was the perfect combination of my childhood dreams. I was able to decorate, style, learn about psychology, people and cultures. Thank you God!

My journey of course didn't just end there. I studied a lot during my college years. The subjects were interesting to me so I never really felt like studying. However it is very wrong to say that design is 'easy'. Learning design takes a lot of time, energy, creativity and confidence. I remember sleeping for only 30 minutes or none at all. Or calling the plotter service at 2 AM. Sleep was luxury! It was sensational, but it definitely paid off. For my internship I got the chance to join an international interior design consultant in Bali (based in London). The consultant focuses on hospitality design. I was so excited to do the internship! They have prestigious projects all over the globe, working with big names such as Shangri-La, Movenpick, Intercontinental etc. I gained a lot of knowledge and skills during the internship and I'm so grateful. I dream about having my own interior design consultant one day. Wish me luck!

So what I love about being an interior designer is that we get to be creative and we get to help people. The job is to translate their fantasy into reality. You design with references from your client and even add more qualities in it. The challenge is to design the optimum way possible on their budget. Talk about interiors or architecture, we have to get it right, right away. Because you know with errors etc it's all about $$$. When you see your fantasy built to the real scale, when the client's happy with the final result, moreover knowing you just helped to escalate one's quality of life and possibly made them happier feels so fulfilling.

Check out my blog focusing on interior design, travel and culture!

Oh my God this post is so long hahaha. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this post and your day!

Cheers,
Yasmin