Name: Makayla Page
Company/Position: Carlson Veit Junge Architects PC, Interior Designer
IIDA member since: 2018

Why are you a member of IIDA?
I’m a member of IIDA because it offers an amazing opportunity to meet other professionals who are just as excited and passionate about interiors as I am. The ability to learn and grow through others in this field is so important and IIDA offers an outlet to do so. It’s a community that is built around the idea of helping each other succeed and that feeling of support is comforting. It gives members the leg room to focus on learning and to reach further in their work and accomplishments.

Favorite IIDA event:
As I am a new professional in the field, many of the events I have attended were student events. I still love the opportunity that the student design charrette offers to up and coming designers, I will always hold onto the memories I made in the ones I participated in. I am most excited to attend the next Design Crawl. I love walking through spaces and seeing the inner workings of talented designers’ minds.

Why do you support interior design licensing?
There are so many facets when designing our built environments. Ask any designer and they will give you a long list full of different categories and subcategories, about code, renderings, design principles, sustainability, everything down to relationships with GC’s and engineers. The list goes on and on. The more you know the better space you will create. Licensing is important because it informs all these aspects of being a designer. It is continued education and it helps prevent the professional from becoming stagnant. I view it as making our designers better, and therefore our world better.

What does being a designer mean to your life?
I believe being a designer of any kind is incredibly important as we shape the world and society. I am incredibly proud to be an interior designer. I am a first-generation college student who grew up in a working-class family. In lower socioeconomic communities the quality of our built worlds and the way it looks are viewed as less important. It’s a roof over our heads and that’s what matters. As a designer we know it is not that simple. Our built world is so important and one of the quickest ways to improve quality of life. I get to help build spaces with inclusivity, and wellness in mind, to make EVERYONE feel special and comfortable.

On a typical Saturday where can we find you?
A typical Saturday always includes me at home on a couch or in a theater watching at least one episode of a show, or a movie that I am or a loved one is excited about. I love being sucked into another world and seeing how it was created. An adolescent dream of mine was creating sets and doing set design. I will make mental notes and comments about the color theory used in creating the sets or even the characters. Make guesses at the materials being used. Who they are trying to emulate in the furniture. How color and environment set the tone for a scene and how it makes the characters feel. Listening characters describe their dream home or vacation and how the buildings and interiors are perfect for them. It offers a great amount of inspiration to me and expands my worldview as I get to see and meet people I haven’t met before. Understand them, their cultures, and of course their spaces.