BBC’s  Masters of Interior Design  is yet another  quick fix, staples, glue, centrepiece, wow factor, TV game show.

Viewers of this show will think ‘interior design’ is about shoddy craftsmanship, a kaleidoscope of colour and a random mix of cheap materials and garish patterns.  

After all, it’s just a bit of fun.

It’s just interior design. 

This is TV for people to laugh at, criticise and scoff at.

The elephant in the room ( not sprayed gold, not made of sequins) is that none of the candidates are actually qualified interior designers.

Every year universities produce hundreds of graduates with excellent design skills. Some of whom have an actual “Masters” in Interior design.  

None of these contestants appear to have spent 3+ years  at university on an interior design course learning about design.

In any field there are gifted amateurs: people with natural flair, talent, experience and knowledge.

In Masterchef  the candidates are highly-skilled amateur cooks but they are expected to perform, and challenge themselves at the highest level.  They consistently produce food that is technically accomplished and innovative.

In the Apprentice, at the final pitch, competitors must demonstrate they have a viable business plan and possess the capability and entrepreneurship that we see in Dragons Den.

Masters of Interior Design has been devised to create  a buzz that will catch an audience with a mindless easy-watching concept and the inevitable big visual reveal. 

As a show made for TV it sticks to a formula. It must have: ‘interesting characters’, be ‘entertaining’ and have an element of competitive ‘tension’.

This is a programme where viewers will dip in and out as they put kids to bed, do the ironing, tidy up. 

It’s not demanding, or binge-worthy and you don’t need to know who is who to follow what’s happening.

Interior design on TV is portrayed in a way that consistently superficial, and cosmetic.

To the world it sends out a narrow, jaundiced view of the interior design professional something purely domestic, slapdash and decorative. 

This puts trained interior designers on the back foot. We have to constantly explain: this is not what interior design is about.

So, what is interior design? 

An Interior designers’ role/remit/work applies right across every type of building.

Any building that has an interior.  

Such as: the interior of an airport, hospital, school, shopping mall, department store, retail unit and commercial office. Interior designers work with five star hotel, budget hotel and with every type of hospitality venue.

The primary concern for all interior designers is about improving people’s experience of space.

That is: making things better, easier and more comfortable – or attractive. This involves creating the spatial  layout, flow and the interplay of light, form, colour and materials.

Every aspect of interior design requires original design research and development and will involve many, many iterations before a final solution is found.

Interior designer work with new and old buildings and work closely with clients to develop opportunities for new types of businesses.  

Interior designers are not interior decorators.

Global firms in hotel design clearly differentiate both roles. They employ interior decorators and interior designers.

The decorators are largely concerned with soft furnishings and style.

The interior designers are more involved with shaping the interior architecture so that the space is a better fit.  This may for example, involve removing existing architectural elements ( staircases, doorways, walls, floors, openings). The Interior designer is in charge how the space looks and how people experience the space.

Interior design is distinct from architecture because employers need people with the right skills for a specific task.  

This is reflected in the wider reach of university courses in.. architecture, interior architecture, interior design – and interior decoration all developing graduates to work within the construction and building industry.

Inevitably, there is some blurring of boundaries.  

Interior design crosses over into architecture, textile design, product design, furniture design, kitchen design and lighting design.

On a small job, the interior designer covers most of the work. Whereas, in very big projects the workload is much more clearly defined.

There is so much more to interior design than a slap of paint and a leopard-print cushion.

And yet people still think of interior design in terms of home staging – as a cosmetic feature of domestic space realm… rugs…colours..flower arrangements. It is a very tired, one-sided view – but one that is continually perpetuated in the media.

Some day we will see more experienced and qualified ‘Masters of interior design’ represented in the media. And when this happens… ultimately the discipline will be more widely understood.