There’s no doubt that jobs enhances people’s lives. Everyone wants something to do…and a job well done gets the banquette it deserves. Talented minds have always something to offer and for sure, we need them.
Reality shows that everywhere in the world, people want to find their lives interesting. It is for this reason that creative-minds think aesthetics and people, functionality and sustainability big-time. Such stretch of the mind creates and harnesses jobs, worthwhile products, services and businesses. In this big-time agenda, budgeting comes into play and options are found.
As we began this year, a final-year creative design trainee contacted me. He squarely wanted to know why there are hardly any job adverts for designers in the creative furniture trade.
Mmh! I too wondered as he’d tossed my mind to a spin with this bare truth. I held the thought and pondered how best I’d respond to the caller without sounding cynical.
Pivotal role
For an industry that should be heralding the works of interior creative designers as the most pivotal role in the organizations, there are remarkably few jobs out there. The mind is disturbed because we churn out more interior designers every year from such popular universities, colleges and polytechnics across East Africa. Where might we be going wrong?
Although we’ve numerous institutions training carpenters, hardly are they embraced with that high esteem yet every day, one has to use an item of their creative works. This brings about the questions of how the polytechnics are equipped. How have the interior design colleges structured their courses to ensure trainees ultimately secure and create more jobs for creative interior product manufacturers and interior designers.
Something to offer
During the annual Ideal Interiors Expo, we occasionally engage with students yearning for attachments. These talented minds certainly have something to offer and can only therefore deserve the best of our industry’s support.
Usually lecturers outline for trainees a course structure, which incorporates a third ‘sandwich’ year that gets the students out of the classroom into workplaces. Exposure in such environment enables the trainees return with a completely different attitude to their designs and a thorough understanding of the technical considerations of their masterpieces. They also have a good chance of returning to their work experience employers…for progressive jobs.
We encourage the development of relationships that creates and connects the interior designers to webs of jobs that make the industry flourish. For one, this is about art. It’s about creating opportunities that deals with affection of people. We can’t wait for speedy growth of talented interior designers and talented product manufacturers keen to make a difference in our steadily growing East African national economies.
The road-map to this effort hinges on investing on the top-of-the-range machineries and enhancing capacities in our training institutions, creating the confidence that we can as well do better and find better in our competitive creative works.
The job-market is thus with us. The guarantee of its sustenance is with us. Its’ future is equally with us. Let’s close the gap. Together, we can.
Humphrey Odhiambo
Managing Editor