Ian Rolston, NCIDQ, IDC, LEED GA, ARIDO

Lead Decanthropist
Decanthropy, Toronto

Expertise/Specializations/Interests: creative strategist, design leader, speaker, and creator of Decanthropy, an inclusive design methodology reimagining our world

What is the highest and best purpose of interior design?

Given the challenges that have transformed the world in 2020, this question led me to reflect on the power our industry possesses to shape the world, when we are at our best.

Life happens in environments we create - people meet life-long friends, fall in love, raise families, and provide care for communities. Humanity governs, learns, collaborates, and creates everything our modern world needs to thrive -in a space.

Our highest purpose, as interior designers, is to serve humanity. We are the gatekeepers of good, articulated in the environments we create.  In the elements we place that tell stories to honour the past, acknowledge our present and celebrate the potential of tomorrow. We designers orchestrate interactions that enhance moments of connection and establish shared values that make life – that make living better.

Our highest purpose as interior designers, is to augment one’s sense of being human, considered and cared for. We must design inclusively to create equity in delivering exceptional experiences for all. Affirming we are more than producers of drawings, specifications, or pickers of pretty things. We are problem solvers, storytellers and agents of change that can design the world as it should be.

Our world has become smaller. Humanity now aspires to provide care, work, play and live more meaningfully. As professionals, emerging or established, it is our responsibility to design environments that support this quality of life for all. This is the Future of Design.