IDIBC by Amber Kingsnorth

 

In preparing for our up-coming meet-up of Vancouver Island IDIBC members and potential members, Ivan was kind enough to ask me to write a little something about why designers would want to join this group.  Good question, Ivan!

 

What many people may not know is that IDIBC has recently changed their membership categories and requirements, making it more accessible to a larger group of designer’s and design-related industry professionals.  There are four main groups of membership available:

 

Professional – This level of membership is reserved for Interior Designer’s who have passed the NCIDQ exam and maintain a specific level of Continuing Educational requirements set out by the Institute.  Professional members are permitted the use of the designation of Registered Interior Designer (RID).

 

Provisional – These are members who are currently working in the field of interior design and who have completed the educational requirements for eligibility to write the NCIDQ exam.  These members must also meet Continuing education requirements and must have plan to write their NCIDQ exam following the required years of experience.

 

Student – Members who are enrolled in an approved educational program for Interior Design.

 

Associate – This is the new member category allowing those working in design or related fields to be a part of IDIBC.  These members do not have to meet the educational requirements of the other categories but are selected by the Board of Directors based on their submitted resume and portfolio.  This is a welcome addition to the IDIBC member group since there are so many talented and vastly experienced designers in BC who previously were not eligible for membership.

 

Although the presence of the Institute on Vancouver Island has not been strong over the past few years, Kyla and I are not alone in feeling that this is a great time to shake things up and get involved! There has been a major resurgence in the cooperative spirit of the design community recently (for which we thank Ivan among others), which is a great inspiration.  Not to mention that Vancouver Island is home to one of only two Interior Design Bachelor Degree programs in BC, at Nanaimo’s Vancouver Island University.

 

There are many benefits to becoming a member which you can read about on the IDIBC website (www.idibc.org) but as with anything, you get out of it what you put in.  The more active members that we have on the island, the more attention island designer will get!  This is a great opportunity to expand your support network, connect with the community, keep up to date on trends, techniques and innovations and did we mention have a great time?  

 

We have had a great response for this Friday’s event, which will be taking place at Only Human Modern Furniture (616 Yates St.) at 5:00pm.   This will be an opportunity to discuss how a Vancouver Island Chapter would operate and what the members would like to see the chapter undertake.  If you’re interested in attending this or up-coming events we would love to hear from you.  Please email amber@inouidesign.ca for more info or to RSVP to Friday’s event.