Taking the Leap into Interior Design
2 years ago, I had not imagined that I would venture into Interior Design (ID). However, I’ve recently found a new lease of life as an intern with BuildBuilt and working towards building a fulfilling career. Here’s how it all happened.
Life before Interior Design
In university, as with many other students, I was eager to have a solid career plan ready before graduation. I would study hard, ace my modules, get that first-class honours degree, land myself a job with good prospects, and I am all set for the life ahead.
But life doesn’t always turn out the way you planned. I studied hard but wasn’t able to excel as much as I’d hoped. The struggle soon depleted all interest I had in Accountancy.
I took a sabbatical year after my freshman year and found myself enjoying sketching and painting.
Still life sketch
Oil painting on canvas
Those experiences made me realise that I wanted to immerse myself in creative work in my career. The remaining 2 years of university flew by, but I was still unsure about which specific jobs interest me. Upon graduation, I figured that my best bet would be to give accounting-related jobs a go and see where it leads me.
I quickly realised it wasn't for me.
At a Crossroad
https://unsplash.com/photos/wuCNi2XfBeE
In 2018, I took up a course on Visual Communication with a private school while holding onto my day job as an accounts executive in an Ad-Tech firm. Things were going well until my retrenchment due to a change of management. From that point on, life has been a whirlwind.
I started looking for a non-accounting role, which was difficult, considering I had no relevant experience. However, I managed to get a job in a social media marketing firm through a contact of the school I was studying with, but I was unprepared for the steep learning curve. I struggled to meet the demands of two simultaneously unfamiliar terrains in studies and work, quitting a few months into the job.
Whilst I was figuring out my next move, COVID-19 hit. Uncertainty was looming over me. After a few years of trying various jobs and opportunities that did not work out, I was frustrated and even more eager to have a breakthrough in my career journey than ever before.
Dabbling in Interior Design
During a conversation with a friend, she suggested the possibility of looking for jobs in the ID industry. I recalled having considered a career change into interior design several times, but I had not received much support from the people around me. The concerns were that the industry was highly saturated, competitive and required a lot of hard-selling. However, I was now at a point where I felt comfortable with venturing into something different, so I decided to give it a go.
A special gift from client - tote bag with my ID instagram name “Comfy Dwelling” imprinted
Unhealthy Work-Life Balance
However, I was drowning in the project management part of my work. Managing multiple stakeholders - clients and sub-contractors, whilst staying on top of the project timelines and building process, took up a lot of my time and energy. Every site seemed to have new unforeseen problems (which may have been more frequent considering I was a newbie). Troubleshooting problems at sites demanded immediate attention and were time-consuming, which caused immense disturbances to the completion of other tasks on hand. There was less time for the design process, and work started to consume an unhealthy portion of my personal time.
The ambiguity of site management solutions, coupled with the lack of work-life balance, eventually pushed me over the edge. It was a difficult decision but, I decided to call it quits. It was the first time I had found such fulfillment at work but had to let go of the portfolio I had painstakingly built in that year. Once again, I returned to the crossroads of either going back to an accounting-related job or setting out to find something else.
Joining BuildBuilt
As fate would have it, I came to know of Buildbuilt, and that they work in teams consisting of a designer and a project manager performing separate roles for each project. After the interview with Buildbuilt, I felt hopeful about the work arrangement and values that the company has. However, there were evident gaps in my skill-set, specifically with rendering. Thankfully, I was offered an internship opportunity to bridge those gaps, before moving on to be a full-fledged design associate with Buildbuilt.
This internship period has been a valuable opportunity to recalibrate, relearn and reignite my passion for designing interior spaces. Finding my footing in any new arena takes time which made me more appreciative through my past experiences. It is also really comforting to involve myself in a work culture that constantly strives to improve their processes and find ways to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders involved.
I am eternally grateful for all the opportunities and help that I’ve been granted on this journey. Looking ahead, I hope to continue growing my skill-sets and design portfolio, to love and be proud of the work that I am about to do.
Thank you for reading my story.