The problem with the interior design industry is that there are almost no barriers to entry. Anyone in possession of a phone and a clutch of paint charts can set up a business and start charging a fee. In the UK, architects are regulated by the Architects Registration Board, but for interior designers no equivalent statutory body exists.
Books and magazines used to be our window into the once-rarefied world of design. The internet has changed that. Google “interior designer” and you will be met with 35mn results — or at least I was at last attempt.
And the number is growing. In 2012, the British Institute of Interior Design (a voluntary membership body without regulatory powers) had 1,382 members. Now it has more than twice as many — and it estimates there might be as many as 20,000 designers practising in the UK.