his or her needs and aspirations. The results may sometimes be
bewildering. Excesses, such as plastic, imitation wooden beams
stuck on to suburban living-room ceilings, or gold-coloured rococo
decoration sold by the yard to be applied to the surfaces of plastic-
covered synthetic-board furniture for bedrooms, can be comical,
even grotesque. There is an important principle in this trend,
however, which is often overlooked. The design of books, tools, and
materials for such activities encourages people to take control over
important decisions regarding their personal environments and, at
some level, to be creatively involved in the realization of their
ideas. The concepts and techniques involved are not particularly
difficult and are within the competence of most people. Although
self-appointed arbiters of taste might find the results of these
activities easy targets for derision, they provide a significant
example of how design can have an enabling function, facilitating
participation by a broad population, in contrast to the more remote
generation of professional solutions.
Interestingly, the situation is somewhat different in the USA, where
the American Society of Interior Designers had over 30,000
members in 2001, with a substantial proportion specializing in
residential design, and with close links to manufacturers of
design-related products and services, such as textiles, wallpapers,
furnishings, and fittings. In addition, most large furniture and
department stores in the USA offer the services of professional
designers in their employ to customers requiring assistance in
purchasing. One Chicago furnishing retailer alone advertises the
services of 200 designers available to customers. The proportion
who pay to have their home planned is therefore much higher than
in Europe, for example, where, in comparison, the Association of
Dutch Designers has 180 members in the category ‘environmental
designers’. On a population basis, the Netherlands, a prosperous
country and an example of design consciousness, has one interior
designer per 89,000 people in comparison to one to 8,700 in the
USA. One estimate is that a third of American homeowners turn to
professional advice in some form in decorating their home. The
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