Savita Kalia
Interior DesignerWhich course did you study and when did you graduate?
I studied the ABC Diploma in Interior Design and graduated from the course in July 2006.
What have you been up to since leaving the University?
Since leaving University I have been up to various things.
I started by helping friends and family during Summer 2006. I helped them pick schemes and furniture for their houses and rooms. This helped develop my communication skills with fabric and furniture suppliers, but as I was ''new on the block'' it was difficult to receive good prices for my friends and family as they had anticipated. However, through these small projects I had got my ''foot in the door''.
I was also looking for jobs whilst I was helping family and friends. I was very lucky to receive invitations for interviews. However, due to lack of experience I was rejected on many occassions.
I then started to seek work placements, where I was paid only transport and/or lunch costs. I carried out a work placement with a lighting designer who was quite up and coming. Working with her was quite an eye-opener to the type of people really out there. Unfortunately I did not learn as much as I had hoped and ended up carrying out a lot of work for free; such as making actual lights (something I had no interest or experience in!), opening her studio for her, helping find antoher studio and managing other volunteers; and I was only there for less than 3 weeks! Due to her establishing herself in the industry she relied a lot on volunteers/work expereince students and I feel that maybe she exploited them. I learnt a lot from this experience and took this with me when appying for more jobs/work placements; namely knowing excatly what I wanted to from a job/placement.
During all of these work placements and attempts to find jobs, I was lucky enough to be able to continue with my previous career; teaching. I took on supply work and was therefore able to have some sort of income. I think this was extremely beneficial as I was able to be a bit more choosy with what I took on.
In October/November 2006 I contacted the Director of Design for Malmaison Hotels; I previously attended an interview in March 2006. They offered me a two week work placement at their head offices in Marble Arch. I was delighted to be able to carry out this placement as it was a company that really appealed as I agreed with their style of hotels, which are quite cool and contemporary, keeping up with the style of today.
During this time I also found freelance work through the Creative Careers website; to design a juice bar. I helped the owners with the conceptual stages, producing, schemes and layouts for them and looking at possible equipment for their juice/dessert bar. This project finished for me in February 2007, where it was passed on to the decorators/contractors. The juice bar opened in June 2007.
A month after carrying out the work placement at Malmaison I was offered a part time position as Interior Design Assistant, which I gladly accepted. At the same time I continued with my own freelance work, as well as teaching. During the Summer of 2007 my position was made full time. I am still happily working for the company. I have worked on many hotel openings, where I have picked schemes and actually worked on site days before the hotels open. at the moment I am working on the refurbishment of one of our hotels.
What has the transition from your studies into your current life been like? What expectations, if any, did you have?
The transition from my studies to my current life has been quite hectic, as there have been many ups and downs. However, I think that I was very lucky that I had a fallback plan, which was my career as a teacher.
I expected my transition into interior design to be difficult, but I did think that there would be more help available; in terms of job placements during University and agencies that maybe able to help. I suffered many rejections, which was difficult at first but then I came to accept that more experience was required and that I would need to carry out some type of work placement, which I then did.
Did you feel prepared when you graduated? If not, was there anything else you wish you’d done, any opportunities you wish you’d seized?
When I graduated I think I was semi-prepared. I knew that I still had a lot to learn, something I have been constantly doing this past year in my job at Malmaison. I wished that during my Diploma I carried out more work placements to increase the amount of experience that I had, as this would have helped me more when finding a job. I also wished that I had participated in more of the competitions available to students.
If there’s one thing you would tell a current student to do right now that would help them when they leave the University, what would it be?
I would advise current students to carry out as many work placements to build up their portfolio and practical experience, which is of extreme importance and help when it comes to finding a job.
