Understanding Interior Design Education and Professional Practices: A Narrative Study

Abstract

I began working as an interior designer in 2009, entering a profession in Nepal that was still finding its voice among architecture, decoration, and design. I have had many projects over the years that have pushed me in terms of aesthetics, as well as functionality, culture, and the language of everyday life in the spaces I designed. This professional experience taught me that interior design is not just about designing rooms, but also about creating relationships, moods, and lifestyles. With over a decade of experience, I began teaching interior design in 2023. This transition from practice to education brought a new level to my career: the realization that although interior design thrives and survives on practice and imagination, its education in Nepal is piecemeal, lacking uniform frameworks, context, and relevance to professional realities. In 2024, I decided to pursue an MPhil in STEAM Education at Kathmandu University and began exploring interior design as a technical, creative process, as well as an interdisciplinary, human-focused, and locally enacted practice. The title of my dissertation, "Understanding Interior Design Education and Professional Practices: A Narrative Study," indicates that this research aims to combine and present my dual identities—as both practitioner and educator. The narrative method enables me to integrate my own story with those of other teachers and practitioners, situating them within the broader theoretical, social, and cultural contexts of Nepal. This research is based on the assumption that interior design education and professional practice are two sides of the same coin: they inform each other, but the gap between the two often leaves students unprepared for the realities. In Nepal, the difference has been most evident in curriculum design, pedagogy, and the discourse among teachers, scholars, and professionals. It is here within this dissertation that I attempt to deconstruct these intricacies through the convergence of becoming tales of teaching and performing interior design, grounded by theories of transformative learning and social constructivism. The first section of this dissertation is about becoming an interior designer. In this reflection, I draw on my own professional past, including the experiences of participants regarding managing conflict, negotiating, and constructing identity, as well as the struggles to gain recognition. I have applied transformative learning theory to examine how interior designers continually unlearn and learn, avoid assumptions, and navigate a changing market and contextual demands in Nepal. The second part of the dissertation examines pedagogy in interior design, where I have analyzed my recent pedagogical experience. Based on participants' evidence, I have described how interior design pedagogy in Nepal can be improved by incorporating personal practice, context-oriented improvisation, and effective dialogues, rather than relying solely on blueprints. To address this, I have introduced an initial "6C Pedagogical Model" for interior design education, encompassing Cognition, Contextualization, Crafting, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Conduct. To prepare this model, I have used the learning of STEAM perspectives. The model describes how and why interior design education needs to move beyond technical training to create critical thinkers, ethical, and socially responsible professionals. The third section, Envisioning Interior Design, examines the practice and education of future professionals and educators. This vision is from collaborative, ethical, and sustainable standpoints. My view is that interior design needs to move forward from its origins in aesthetics to become a transformative discipline, based in cultural narrative, emotional intelligence, and ethics. Any education, including interior design, should not only prepare students to meet market needs but also equip them to recognize their identity, think critically, and serve society thoughtfully and ethically. Methodologically, the research is grounded in narrative inquiry and draws on my reflective practice, as well as the stories of selected participants, interior designers, and educators in Nepal. Their voice reveals insights into the struggles of professional practice, teaching challenges, and turning points that are not accessible to quantitative approaches or highly structured models. Narrative inquiry enables me to respect the fluidity of interior design practice and position education as a dialogical and dynamic process. This dissertation, with the analytical effort that it presents, also narrates my own learning journey as an MPhil student of Kathmandu University. Following STEAM education, I developed an appreciation for interior design not only as a multidimensional career but also as a field that thrives where science and technology intersect, combining engineering, arts, and mathematics. My experience in the MPhil program and this research was not only an academic journey but also a journey of self-construction, where I built myself while learning about the construction of space. Balancing professional image, teaching duties, and academic demands was an introspective process where I was subjected to the very theories I was learning about—transformative learning, constructivism, and critical reflection. In a real sense, this dissertation is both professional and personal: it is my story as much as it is about interior design education in Nepal. It aims to contribute to the theoretical literature in design education while generating valuable knowledge for scholars, professionals, and policy-makers. By documenting and reflecting on these interconnected journeys, I aim to demonstrate that education in interior design, when grounded in reflective practice and situated knowledge, can not only produce skilled practitioners but also considered, ethical, and transformational designers of the future.