John Czarnecki, editor, Contract magazine, Eileen McMorrow, editor, The McMorrow Reports, Jennifer Busch, VP, A&D, Teknion, and Dennis Cahill, Director of Leasing, New York Design Center, celebrate with John Rouse (center), publisher of Contract when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the New York School of Interior Design.
New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) bestowed an Honorary Doctorate degree on Contract Publisher John Rouse, Hon. IIDA, at the spring commencement.
Rouse has been a publisher of leading professional interior design publications for more than two decades. He began his career at Interiors magazine and became its publisher in 1994. He joined Contract magazine as its publisher in 2001. In 2012, Rouse and Editor in Chief John Czarnecki, Hon. IIDA, were named to the inaugural Public Interest Design 100, along with many notables including President Bill Clinton. Rouse also received the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) inaugural Legacy Award in 2014.
John Czarnecki, editor, Contract magazine, Eileen McMorrow, editor, The McMorrow Reports, Jennifer Busch, VP, A&D, Teknion, and Dennis Cahill, Director of Leasing, New York Design Center, celebrate with John Rouse (center), publisher of Contract when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the New York School of Interior Design.
Here are excerpts from his speech to the 99th graduating class of NYSID:
“You will consistently create serious new products called “interiors” that include specifications, plans, parameters, costs, activities, processes that must accommodate—dare I say please—a multicultural, multinational, technology advanced—or intimidated—multigenerational client base while simultaneously accomplishing the unappreciated benefit of a happier, healthier, and more productive workspace.
You guys—along with Pharrell—make people happy. How great is that?
And you can do more; you have to. You have the gene. There are products, graphics, events, and more to design. So seek out a mentor and get their advice.
But this isn’t about solving some design challenge by spending hours on Google and then 3D printing a chair. It’s about all of you being happy.
Steve Jobs said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know it when you find it.”
All of this is daunting, but there are just three things you need: pride, passion, and faith.
Pride in knowing that what you do makes people happier, healthier, creates jobs, and helps save our planet. Passion, because it’s just not fun for you—or others—if you don’t adore your job every day, and faith, the ability to believe in something you may not know the result of, but must be confident that it’s value exceeded the client’s objectives.
Brilliant people such as the eloquent and graceful Maya Angelou and the astonishing Massimo Vignelli—whom we lost last year—had no fear of edges.
Brilliant people have no fear of edges. You must find where the edge is . . . as your idealism will become others’ reality.
As Maya Angelou said: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.
Please wake up every day happy . . . you all deserve it because of what you do.”
David Sprouls, the president of NYSID, told Contract magazine: “John Rouse’s dedication to the interior design profession as demonstrated through his many years as publisher first of Interiors Magazine and now Contract Magazine, two of the most influential design publications, makes it a special privilege for NYSID to bestow the institution’s highest academic honor on him. He has been a champion of the transformative power of design, informing a generation of design practitioners.”
Among the other distinguished recipients were Trisha Wilson, chairman and CEO of Wilson-RED. Wilson was Contract magazine’s 2014 Legend Award winner, as well as Hospitality Design’s Manfred Steinfeld Humanitarian Award recipient in 2006.
New York interior designer Jamie Drake, president of Drake Design Associates, also received the college’s Honorary Doctorate degree.