The Business Of Decoration Previous Page (22)
The interior decorator is not subject to these rules. Here and there a man ekes out a living by furnishing decorative advice on a percentage basis and he may be regarded as a professional decorator, but nine-tenths and perhaps ninety-nine one-hundredths of the work executed under the direction of decorators in this country every year is done by men with establishments which must be supported, like other business establishments, on a profitable basis, and who would not be able to live if they depended on a small commission.
This is a very natural condition of affairs that the public itself has created, for there is scarcely any widespread or effective demand for the professional decorator. The number of people willing to employ a
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28INTERIOR DECORATING
man for his advice only in connection with the interior of their homes and to pay him a satisfactory fee or percentage for furnishing such advice is extremely small. There may be a growing number of these folk, but it is not yet large enough to command the time of any large group of decorators. When a man builds a house he feels that his architect's commission should cover everything except the profits of the various manufacturers who contribute to creating the building, and if the decorator is to be permitted to participate he must gain his remuneration either by manufacturing the articles which he supplies or by acting as a middleman in their purchase and sale. This may not continue to be the case in the future when a larger percentage of the public is educated to the point of appreciating the importance of interior decoration in their own lives, but it is the condition which exists today. And so the decorator who is professionally qualified must furnish his services as a side issue or incidental bonus in connection with the sale of his goods.
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