Mentorship

Literal

·     Link to Mentorship Log

·     Rey Viquez, 1(310)739-9096

   

 Interpretive

What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I gained from the experience is learning what it's like to be an Interior Designer. At first, I just thought an Interior Designer went and looked inside some rooms in a home, then to some furniture store like IKEA, put the furniture into the room, and moved it around until it all looked nice. I mean, they do that kind of stuff too, but there is a lot more work that gets put into making the best out of a room for a client. I now realize how much time Interior Designers have to spend with their client. They have to know what their client really likes. They also have to have some artistic abilities to make sure they can draw out plans for their clients. They don't just go out and buy furniture from IKEA, but Interior Designers get their furniture custom made also! They design the furniture for a room, and then have a specialist make it. As an Interior Designer, you have to be there for all of the instillation's to make sure everyone does what they're supposed to. Depending on how big the project is, Interior Designers need to get the approval from the city for their plans. Then there's all the billing you have to make sure you take care of. Interior Designers also have to keep track of all their samples of wood, paints, fabrics, and etc. They also have to make sure they order more and keep up with all the latest trends. There's so much to think of! It takes a lot of work to be an Interior Designer. This was the most important part that I took from the whole experience because I saw this as a career choice possibility. I still do not know if I want to become an Interior Designer in the future, but I will at least know what it is going to be like if I ever do, which is a huge possibility because Rey hired me for a paid summer internship! :)

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  

This mentorhsip has helped me answer my EQ question by providing me with answers through hands on experiences. My first answer: Know what changes you want to make to a room,  was shown every time Rey had to sketch something out, or had me help put together pieces right before pitching a project for a client. My second answer: Furniture, was shown whenever I saw the before and after sketches and plans for a room. I also got to overlook some of the furniture Rey was trying to get custom made for a room, and helped arrange the furniture in places like our outdoor lounge. My third answer: Walls, was shown through sketching and plans for a room also, just like it did for my previous answers. We had the walls painted in our mentorship office while I was there, so I got to see the effect walls in a room had in our office as well. This experience  has helped me find answers to my essential question more than the research did. Not only because of the hands on experience, but because of the knowledge the people I worked with had about the Interior Design field, and their generosity in sharing that knowledge with me whenever I needed something to be explained.