ASID, in one form or another, is nearing its 75th anniversary (2006) as a professional organization for interior designer practitioners. In counting down to this celebration, we’ll cull the Chapter’s archives, pulling out some old photos and dusting off some old memories.
If you’ve been a member for a while you’ll recognize faces and friends. If you’re from the younger crowd, we hope to instill in you an interest in what ASID is about, how it has grown as the profession matured, how it offers a variety of experiences, how it has served (and continues to serve) your career and vocation.
You might recall in the last issue we ran a brief history of the AID / NSID merger to form ASID.
The archive photos here show a few key players from Connecticut who worked on a nationwide level to create ASID. We hope these scanned images translate across the years and the web to bring history to you.
The founding organization, AID, has this press release in its archives:
“In June 1931, 485 men and women assembled at the first international conference on interior decoration in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they came from 93 cities in 25 states and Canada. They had countless meetings, one of them right through the night. Out of that meeting came the first draft of what would thereafter be known as The American Institute of Interior Designers.”
Included in this picture is Bernard (Buster) Vinick, FASID. Buster was instrumental in uniting AID with NSID to create ASID, which today is the largest interior design professional organization in America. He also helped found the Connecticut Coalition of Interior Designers and establish Connecticut’s interior design title act – one of the first in the country. Buster’s contributions crossed the pond when he served on the IFI (International Federation of Interior Architects-Interior Designers) board of directors.
In 2002, CCID presented its first lifetime achievement award to Buster for his vision, perseverance and commitment to the profession. Although retired from Vinick Associates, Buster enjoys keeping up with news of old friends and associates. He and his wife, Martha, enjoy traveling and promoting environmental issues.
From another era?
The ASID designer mentioned above is no long with us, but Marilen Hoette, ASID is a past Chapter Medalist recipient for her tireless work as NCIDQ proctor chair. I had the privilege of inheriting her position and she told me about the time her car broke down on the way to the exam center. There she was by the side of the road, test material in hand, thumbing a ride! If the image doesn’t register, picture your Grandmother flagging down a lift and still maintaining her dignity. Ah … the things we do when something needs to be done. Thanks to Marilen, who helped foster another generation of interior designers!
Linda Scinto, ASID will pull out more goodies from our Chapter archives. As Historian, she is always eager to add to the collection. If you have information, tales to tell, pictures to share, contact her: ljscinto@aol.com or me: 203/ 380-9189; kim121@earthlink.net
We look forward to hearing from you.
We’ll close with a more recent photo of a stellar group of past and current chapter leaders looking as young as ever at the ASID Regional Conference in Albany, NY 1994.
From left: John Arabolos, Edward Bottomley, Roz Cama, Elaine Koufman, Ken Deck and Donna Carrubba. Back row: Dianne Lowenthal, Fran Wilson, and Julianne Stirling.