Author Archives: Maddy Gorman

Design Is Everywhere. We Are Design.

What an amazing turn out for Exhibit: the 2018 IIDA Oregon Chapter Annual Celebration and Fundraiser!  On behalf of the IIDA Oregon Chapter Board of Directors, we are so grateful for your participation and generous support. Our sponsors and supporters make it possible for us to operate and provide members with all of the wonderful benefits associated with your Membership. A special thanks to our 38 sponsors for the evening and to the amazing companies who donated raffle items. Thanks to Flora Bowley for creating an amazing piece of live art for the silent auction, which helped to raise funds for our chapter’s programming and advocacy efforts! We could not have done it without you all!

For those of you who missed Exhibit, my name is Mia Allen and I am your new 2018-2019 IIDA Oregon Chapter President. July 12th marked my official IIDA Oregon Chapter Presidential inauguration and I am so excited to hit the ground running on our Chapter’s goals and initiatives for 2018-2019 board year.  I am going to highlight a few of our current initiatives that I shared at the event in this blog post.

Here’s a recap of goals and initiatives shared:

  • It is my initiative as president of the IIDA Oregon Chapter to continue to fulfill the IIDA Oregon Chapter mission, which is to be the face of professional Interior Design in the State of Oregon. To be a resource for our members and people who seek the services of professional Interior Designers. To uphold our profession to the highest standards and support legal recognition of the Interior Design profession in Oregon.

  • IIDA HQ recently published a design manifesto, which describes the importance of design. It is this statement that gets me excited to talk about my first initiative for the chapter, which is centered around Interior Design Advocacy.

    “design is personal.  not political. design dignifies. it does not discriminate. design provides and provokes. it has no prejudice. design heals the heart, replenishes the soul, ignites the mind. design civilizes, not demonizes, design excites and exalts. it never excludes. design educates. it does not repudiate. design has empathy not antipathy. design is culture. design is craft. design is art. design is science. design is history. design is love. design speaks. design listens. design is everywhere. we are design.”


  • This year the IIDA Oregon Chapter is taking on a major initiative to run all advocacy efforts for the State of Oregon. With the dissolvement of our IDC coalition, IIDA is partnering with ASID in this effort. Both organizations are striving for the same goals, and that is to be heard, educate those around us about the importance of our profession and to take action.“Afterall, advocacy is everything we do. Membership is advocacy. And every single member of IIDA – whether you are practicing in a firm or working for a manufacturer or teaching – is an advocate for the profession.”
    ~ Cheryl Durst, Executive Vice President and CEO of IIDA     
  • It is our goal this year to build a grassroots campaign, one that resonates with our members, our community and our government. We will continue to share advocacy updates and educate our community on legislation and the importance of registration. We also plan to host more advocacy related events that can help fund this initiative throughout this year and beyond. We need everyone to get involved, whether you are an interior designer, industry partner, family or friend. One way to get involved today is to text interior Design OR to 52886 to receive updates relating to interior design registration and important interior design advocacy updates.

  • Another great way to get involved and be a design advocate is to fill out the State of the Industry Survey. The State of the Industry is a research initiative by the IIDA Oregon Chapter which surveys information in an effort to build a higher understanding of the presence, status and impact of Interior Design in Oregon.  We will be sending out the 2018 survey in the coming weeks. We highly encourage you and your firm to participate in this anonymous collection of valuable and applicable information. Please be on the lookout for the link to participate.

  • The IIDA Oregon Chapter recently won $5000 to help with our advocacy efforts. These funds were approved to help launch the popular advocacy golf fundraiser that IDC hosted in previous years. Our golf outing will be held at Glendoveer Golf course on September 6th. It will be a 9 hole course and at each hole there will be interactive advocacy activities planned with partnering sponsors. This will be a great way to learn more about our advocacy efforts, while engaging in some fun along the way. There will be food, drinks and a celebration at the end, we hope to see you all there!

  • IIDA HQ recently launched an exciting program called the IIDA Catalyst grant program. The purpose of the program is to fund projects that move our chapters forward, enrich the organization and promote the association’s mission of advancing excellence in Interior Design. Our summer board retreat kicks off on August 9th and it is here that we will be generating ideas for a program or project the IIDA Oregon Chapter would we pursue, if we had the funds to make it happen.  Whether it’s membership, education, branding, leadership or just organizational basics, the Catalyst Grant is designed to help meet our chapters most desired programmatic needs. There is a grant application process that is due by October 1st. HQ is reserving a quarter of a million dollars to distribute to chapters who develop a plan that can have a spark growth and provide resources to bring chapter goals to fruition. The max allotment each chapter can receive is $15,000. We look forward to providing you updates on our efforts with the catalyst grant initiative for our chapter.

I would like to remind you all about is that we are opening the call for submissions for the 2018 Design Excellence Awards, as well as nominations for the 2018 Emerging Professional Award on July 24th.  Be on the lookout for instructions on how to submit!

Lastly, I’d like to thank my firm, SERA for the tremendous amount of support the firm has afforded me so far in my new role with IIDA. In addition to SERA, many firms and companies commit time and resources to the Chapter by supporting Board members. Our 32 member board is comprised of a diverse group of individuals who come from different design backgrounds but who are rooted in their passion for community engagement and the power of design.

Board members and IIDA Oregon Chapter members, I look forward to collaborating with you this year, and I am honored to serve as your 2018-2019 IIDA Oregon Chapter President.

Sincerely,
Mia Allen, Associate IIDA
IIDA Oregon Chapter President

Member Spotlight: Mia Allen, Associate IIDA

Name: Mia Allen
Company: SERA Architects
Position/Years of Experience: Interior Designer, 13 years
IIDA member since: 2013

Why are you a member of IIDA?: When I first joined IIDA, I signed up to be the Chair of Student Affairs. It was in this role that I acted as a liaison between students, educators and the professional community. I found this position to be very rewarding, as I was able to make a strong impact on students lives by planning events that were centered around education, networking and professional growth. After four years of being on the Student Affairs team I realized it was time to take the next big step. I saw the value of taking on a leadership role within the organization, as the leaders around me continued to amaze me everyday. The previous presidents had taken on initiatives that had a lasting impact on their work and the design community at large.  I am excited to continue to work on the many great initiatives they set in place, as well as build on new initiatives that support our chapter, as we continue to grow into the modern day chapter we are today.

Favorite IIDA event: Student Design Charette.  This event is one of my favorites. I helped to launch the IIDA Oregon Chapter local charette here in Portland during my first year on the board. We set the local student charette up to help prepare students for the national competition that IIDA HQ was hosting at Neocon each year. We decided the following year to encourage other western region chapters to host local charettes in their cities as well. Winning teams from each western region state, would then send winning teams on to compete regionally. Each year we moved the location of the regional charette to one of the cities of the participating western region states. This gave students the opportunity to travel and compete with a variety of students from different schools and years. We can proudly say we have sent  over 20+ students to compete regionally, some of which have made it into the final winning teams at the international level.

What are you currently working on?: I recently joined the workplace team at SERA and have been working on a variety of workplace projects large and small.  I am a design manager on a workplace cafe remodel project and a lead designer on a small tenant improvement office project here in Portland. I am also the lead Interior Designer for a new build workplace project in California that I am really excited about, as we have a great team gearing up to do some amazing work!

What does interior design legislation mean to you?: The more I have grown in my profession, the more important design legislation has become to me.  It is time we be recognized as qualified Interior Designers. I’m excited to lead the advocacy efforts with our chapter this year. We are looking to create a grassroots campaign, one that resonates with our members, our community and our government. We are putting advocacy at the heart of everything we do this year.  Please join us in this movement and be a design advocate for our profession. It is time to raise the glass ceiling.

What is your personal mantra?: To work hard, but also find time to enjoy the things you love.