Why the Interior Design Industry Loves Awards Galas
Since launching into the world of Interior Design, I find myself attending and/or tracking a lot of awards galas. These include the Southeast Designer of the Year awards, done in partnership with Veranda and ADAC. And the American Society Of Interior Designers (ASID) Design Excellence Awards. And the Georgia Design Awards Gala produced by Atlanta magazine. And the Luxe Interiors + Design Red Awards. And the Elle Décor A-List. The Shutze Awards. And let us not forget the Modern Luxury – Annual Best of Design winners. And the list goes on. Wow! That is a lot of awards. So, what gives? Why does the Interior Design industry love Awards Events so much, enough to support them all? Let us explore….
Why do designers and architects submit for awards, and love receiving them?
As humans that are emotional beings at the core, we have a need for respect. And for recognition. And to feel appreciated. Winning an award gives us that, “Look mom, I did it!” moment. And when we pour ourselves into something and really make it part of our identify, it feels even more gratifying. The world of Interior Design belongs to the creatives and creators and artisans. There is not a visual scoreboard for the world to see who is excelling. This is very different from other industries. For example, in finance one has the stock market, and can show their returns and impact there. Politicians have election victories that they can point at, to show success in their profession. Engineers can point to patent applications, and chemists can point to the drugs they were involved with that received FDA approval. Professors can show the amount of their research that has been published in industry journals. Heck, even lawyers can show the number of cases and lawsuits they have won and the number of financial judgements they helped secure for their clients.
Designers do not have those types of things. It is their art and creativity on display – which are subjective by their very nature. Their personal touches, and love of color and pattern and texture, that is there for the world to see. So, a little validation from their respected peers and industry insiders and taste makers goes a long way.
It is an industry built on reputation. Awards, and the accumulation of them, help further one’s standing amongst designers and those that follow them. This causes, and helps create, a virtuous cycle of winning more work from more clients in the future. Reputation within the community matters, and awards help that reputation. And, it is not only the winner that benefits, since often there are gold, silver, and bronze winners – so more get to bask in the glory of it all.
Why do the hosts and sponsors love them?
It can be empowering to hand someone an award and see that big smile on their face or across their team’s faces. An award host gets to help create that. Sponsors want to be a part of that feel of good will and camaraderie. And, perhaps, even good feels and good will come full circle, and the host and sponsors benefit by being associated with it all.
. . . . . . . .
And so it is for us at Ernest Gaspard as well. We love attending awards galas. We love sponsoring them. We love to congratulate the winners, and congratulate those that were not victorious this time around. Becausece launching into the world of Interior Design, I find myself attending and/or tracking a lot of awards galas. These include the Southeast Designer of the Year awards, done in partnership with Veranda and ADAC. And the American Society Of Interior Designers (ASID) Design Excellence Awards. And the Georgia Design Awards Gala produced by Atlanta magazine. And the Luxe Interiors + Design Red Awards. And the Elle Décor A-List. The Shutze Awards. And let us not forget the Modern Luxury – Annual Best of Design winners. And the list goes on. Wow! That is a lot of awards. So, what gives? Why does the Interior Design industry love Awards Events so much, enough to support them all? Let us explore….
Why do designers and architects submit for awards, and love receiving them?
As humans that are emotional beings at the core, we have a need for respect. And for recognition. And to feel appreciated. Winning an award gives us that, “Look mom, I did it!” moment. And when we pour ourselves into something and really make it part of our identify, it feels even more gratifying. The world of Interior Design belongs to the creatives and creators and artisans. There is not a visual scoreboard for the world to see who is excelling. This is very different from other industries. For example, in finance one has the stock market, and can show their returns and impact there. Politicians have election victories that they can point at, to show success in their profession. Engineers can point to patent applications, and chemists can point to the drugs they were involved with that received FDA approval. Professors can show the amount of their research that has been published in industry journals. Heck, even lawyers can show the number of cases and lawsuits they have won and the number of financial judgements they helped secure for their clients.
Designers do not have those types of things. It is their art and creativity on display – which are subjective by their very nature. Their personal touches, and love of color and pattern and texture, that is there for the world to see. So, a little validation from their respected peers and industry insiders and taste makers goes a long way.
It is an industry built on reputation. Awards, and the accumulation of them, help further one’s standing amongst designers and those that follow them. This causes, and helps create, a virtuous cycle of winning more work from more clients in the future. Reputation within the community matters, and awards help that reputation. And, it is not only the winner that benefits, since often there are gold, silver, and bronze winners – so more get to bask in the glory of it all.
Why do the hosts and sponsors love them?
It can be empowering to hand someone an award and see that big smile on their face or across their team’s faces. An award host gets to help create that. Sponsors want to be a part of that feel of good will and camaraderie. And, perhaps, even good feels and good will come full circle, and the host and sponsors benefit by being associated with it all.
. . . . . . . .
And so it is for us at Ernest Gaspard as well. We love attending awards galas. We love sponsoring them. We love to congratulate the winners, and congratulate those that were not victorious this time around. Because winning is subjective, and usually everyone that was selected as a finalist has amazing interior design or architectural talent. Talent worth celebrating.
Helping empower our Southern Interior Design Community is what we do at Ernest Gaspard. And we feel our Southern Designers are amongst the best at it in the world, and that is worth celebrating.
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