As we reach the year’s end, for us all at IFI, there is great excitement for 2014 and the future of design, interiors and IFI. In the midst of this contagious energy, we take this moment to remember our accomplishments, and to thank you for your staunch support during 2013.

Along with year-end celebrations, we remain immersed in preparation of our 26th General Assembly (GA) and Congress, hosted by our member MIID – The Malaysian Institute of Interior Designers. The Congress, which will explore the theme REKA (the Malay word for 'create’), will take place 1-2 May, with the GA following on 3-4 May. We look forward to seeing you there and to formally celebrating IFI’s 50th anniversary together in Kuala Lumpur.

At that meeting, while honoring our past, together we look forward to exploring and making decisions about our future possibilities lead by the IFI Strategic Planning Committee (IFI SPC). Appointed by the current Executive Board, and chaired by Madeline Lester AM, this group has been hard at work in their careful review and analysis of your response to the survey; their research consideration of appropriate and structures and governance models possible for IFI.

As you know the IFI SCP is comprised of distinguished past presidents from our Parliamentary Council, the current incumbent President of IFI, along with a regional leader and past board member from Europe, and a long standing Business Consultant to IFI from the pacific rim. With due consideration, the Committee was expanded to include former IFI board member Yao Cheng Chung from Taipei, Taiwan.

THE IFI SPC SURVEY
Conducted by David Donnelly of Instinct and Reason,sought to understand your experience of IFI as a member, your perceptions of the value IFI presents to you and your expectations of a global disciplinary body. The results of the survey were immensely helpful and we thank both David and his team, and you, our members for your input to help us better understand your expectations. Along with your request for a greater communication, you have asked to be ever more integrated with IFI. We also learnt that a resounding 80% of you like the idea of IFI’s global reach to be cultivated through some from a regional and national input. You were very clear in your opinion that IFI MUST remain singularly focused on helping to develop, elevate and globally coalesce the Interior Architecture/Design discipline.

Members of the SPC hard at work, with IFI Board Members Iris Dunbar and Horace Pan on hand, during a recent IFI SPC workshop in Hong Kong

With these criteria firmly in mind, the IFI SPC is considering radically different approaches and is now working to formulate an appropriate model for their recommendation.

All the while, we all are committed to upholding IFI’s mission to further expand the contribution of the Interior Architecture/Design profession through the exchange and development of knowledge and experience, in education, practice and fellowship and across all levels of our global society.

Wishing you a happy and healthy festive season and a new year of  great joy, prosperity and success!

Shashi
president@ifiworld.org