All for One and One for All

Cindy Allen -- Interior Design, 6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Just about done with our June issue, a task that included jet-setting from Shanghai to Paris and Bel Air to D.C., I paused for a few moments to reflect on another important duty Interior Design recently took on: helping our community manage and survive the current "unpleasantness." Like termites and monkeys, it seems, humans may possess genes compelling us, biologically, to altruism. Or so they teach at Stanford University. (Do Unto Others is a concept that a few people still find hard to grasp.) Supporting young folks, who chose to start their careers in the middle of this meltdown, or assisting accomplished designers, who are experiencing professional hardships seldom seen, is the least any of us can do. And it's heartwarming that the good folks at Mohawk, surrendering to their altruistic DNA, have set aside a considerable budget to go cross-country hosting Re:work, a series of free one-day seminars helping displaced designers sharpen their business skills. In New York, two women laid off from design firms have banded together to form LMNOP to provide everything those letters stand for: Leadership, Mentoring, Networking, and Opportunity for A&D Professionals. Me? Almost daily, I have an 11:30 AM meeting with an out-of-work designer. I review their portfolios, talk, and let them know I care.

These are just three examples, but our industry is taking care of its own in a multitude of ways. In the end, we all benefit. So much for lifting yourself up by your bootstraps and all that go-it-alone drivel.