Dreams: The Psychological intelligence of Interior Designers
In the Unconscious state of mind
Tempess Johns
Section 202
Marlen Harrison
May 7, 2010
Abstract:
With there being so many different definitions of the word dream, and it being so vague. I wanted to focus it on one thing, which would be my major in Interior design. Through this 15 week research process, I’ve looked for what happens in the creative mind of an interior designer. In the Unconscious State of Mind, as well as if it has affected their work throughout their major and or career. Within my paper I mentioned myself being a participant of remembering my dreams and incorporating them in my designs. By the end of my research I resulted to find that dreams meant goals, inspiration, and an influence to my interviewees. This made the paper turn in a different direction but it became interesting to see a different perspective of the word “Dream.”
Dreams: I think of Déjà vu, a fantasy world, an unreal imagination, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others. All of these things come to mind when I think of dreams. In what ways have Dreams, Inspiration, and Goals influenced designers in the 20th and the 21st centuries? A famous philosopher had once said “that our minds preserve memories and emotions which are not always consciously available to us have transformed the way humanity views itself ever since” (Sigmund, 1856). Over the years, dreams have been interpreted from different perspectives like a goal, imagination, figure of speech, or a design. Dreams have affected many people as well as influenced them to express themselves in a different way, for example, with writing or even through art. One man decided to do this named Martin Luther King Jr. He decided to make a difference by writing a speech called “I Have a Dream” based on life goals for the future that he thought would end the discrimination between all races. Later on this speech influenced many people from all over the world by changing the movement of segregation throughout all races which would change their lives forever.
Dreams are an amazing thing to have. Dreams are repressed emotions and thoughts within the mind when a person is asleep. In many ways, this is where many designers are inspired to create a dream design and a dream home like what the home buyers looks forward to. In the Dream Home: Remodeling American expectations with model houses journal it explained how WWII, there were so many people that wanted a dream house or dream living. Since the war was going on, a lot of things ended up changing during this time period. When the men would come home, they had to share homes with other families just because there were no rooms available because of the large population. Finally, when the war was beginning to end, so did the housing situation; millions of homes were being built. There were a decent amount of families interested in the model homes advertised within newspapers and magazines. This started the look for homes to have more space and even have backyards, which was a new design that not a lot of people were used to during this time period. Dreams continue to be an inspiration as well as a goal for many people until this day. One will notice that designs, colors, and structures have changed over time and they’re not the same. Dreams will always and forever be a creative imagination that people will choose not to pursue within their daily lives. Whether it’s in their career or not, it will always be there which leads us into why we have dreams in the beginning.
In the article “Dreams: Bringing us two steps closer to the client’s needs,” The Andrea Koch talks about another author named Roger and his propositions on the “Theory Personality on Behavior.” He goes into detail about what dreams are and what they mean to everyday people. He has said that “Such a person is more potentially aware, not only of the stimuli from outside, but of ideas and dreams, and of the ongoing flow of feelings, emotions, and physiological reactions has that he or she sensed from within” (Rogers, 1980, p.3). After he had tested his research on dreams by recording himself while sleeping, many other authors have begun doing more research on dreams and testing things out by the person- centered community. Another major factor within dreaming is REM which means rapid eye movement. This happens when a person is asleep, and describes the rate of the eye moving while the person is asleep during the REM phasic period. This increases the possibility of remembering a dream then you would if he/she experience the REM tonic period and that is when a person is not experiencing REM. There have been two hypothesizes: “scanning hypothesis” and the “sensory image- free association a hypothesis”. Both explain what happens while dreaming. If a person is experiencing a scanning hypothesis it is suggested that the REM is reflecting the dreamer’s voluntary watching of visual imagery in a dream. Sensory image hypothesis says that REM happens spontaneously with any type of voluntary control and generates a dream image. The reason why the eye moves is because a person is scanning the visual dream images of his/her dream. In many ways, this has happened and even inspired many designers over the years of what they dreamed about and made it into reality. A dream can be considered a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep, or even goals, influences, and inspiration throughout life that one could imagine or make come true. There are so many different meanings of a dream to so many people over the years. In the 60’s the word dream was used in a famous speech called “I have a Dream” by an African American man that wanted to see a difference and make a difference not only in his community but around the world. He was brought up as an ordinary black male in the state of Georgia, attending segregated schools, and lived everyday questioning and wondering why everyone was so discriminative or racist and when this was going to stop. Years later, he found his calling by going around the world giving speeches to people to make a difference and to love one another. By having protest, and marches, Martin Luther King Jr. began to make a difference and started having people from every race come to listen to him. Even though he did not live to see the day that his dream came true, He would have been proud to see that years from now his “I have a Dream” speech will always be cherished and never forgotten. The word Dream in the interior design and architecture world has been a fantasy ever since the WWII. For centuries people go on about their dream homes and then explain exactly what they would love in or on it. However, most dream homes never come true because of finances and more. In the article by Catherine Wallack, she talks about model homes during the post war and how important and popular they were because of the war destroying so much. There were times when the men came home from the war and had to live in complicated living conditions with their family. This was when there was a high need of housing and the model homes were the newest structures out with wonderful designs. While this was happening people began buying these dream homes that came with new technologies, which started to reinforce genders within the households. Today, it has progressed so that clients and the famous have made their dreams come true more than they did during the postwar time. Gender roles have changed and houses have become bigger.
In my methodology section, I’m going to explain in an auto ethnography genre how dreams inspired or been a goal in my interior design professors as well as my friends’ lives. Through all the research that I have read about or received over the weeks, I have formed questions to ask in my interviews. This will actually put my research question more in effect. The question is, “In what ways have dreams, inspirations, and goals influenced designers in the 20th and 21st centuries?” This leads me to ask these questions.
1. Have you ever been inspired by your dreams?
Amanda: “Ever since I was a little girl interior design, decorating, and fashion was a trend. This inspired me to be more artistic and creative with my designs.”
Mrs. Venetta: “I never was inspired by my dreams and felt as though my dreams had anything to do with my designs”.
2. Has there been anyone you’ve known or met that has been inspired by their dreams?
Amanda: “While viewing my thesis in college I found that there were many designers that were inspired by their dreams and as well been inspired by other designers like I did.”
Mrs. Venetta: “Throughout my career as a interior when I first started out there were a few people who had inspired me and my dreams to become a successful interior designer”.
3. When you hear the word dream what do you think of?
Amanda: “I think of inspiration, goals, and a chance to prove yourself and strive for what you want. The sky is the limit.”
Mrs. Venetta: “I think of inspirations and goals when the word dream comes to mind”.
Shay: “I think of sleep, somewhere pleasant, and nice”.
Debbie: “I think of my goals in the future and inspirations”.
Dave: “Among the thing you wish will come true, so fight hard to make it reality”.
4. How has time changed in the interior design field since you where younger?
Amanda: “Interiors were more associated with home economics back in the 70’s and the 80’s and earlier. Used to the women in the household decorating and choirs. Compared to the interior design field today it has expanded and changed a lot. There are television shows and more programs to get the word out and become more of a interesting major to take in college.”
Mrs. Venetta: “Time has changed a lot from my day and when I first started out in the interior design field. Everything was done in person not over the computer. Now everything is done through technology. Even the interviews with clients and designs too it’s rare you will ever need to draw out your designs”.
5. Describe your dream house?
Shay: “My dream house would be big and exotic just like celebrities”.
Dave: “My house would reflect me and it doesn’t necessarily have to be big average size is nice and comfortable.”
Debbie: “My house would comfortable and a descent size”.
Asking these questions made me become more interested in my topic and made me realize how much dreams have affected not just my life as an interior design major, but my fellow friends and professors. This also made my interviewees actually sit back and realize how much the word dream means how it has affected their career. Life has changed a lot over the years in the interior design field.
In my result section, I ended up using my female professor who is in her 20’s, another female professor who is in her 40’s, and one classmate who is in my interior design class, who is around the same age as me (in her early 20’s). I asked all of them the same research and some of the questions were different and the others were somewhat the same. The people that I chose didn’t affect my questions or what I was trying to do to get the response I wanted just because I don’t know them I just know of them beyond school.
After having these questions read and discussed with my recipients, I realized that a lot of of my research question had changed. After all my research on dreams while sleeping to know if interior designers ever dream of their creativity or their designs, the answer was no. This ended up turning my attention more on the dream aspect of the designer, to ask them what the word dream means to them and what their dream house would look like. I decided to ask a few of my friends what the word dream meant to them. The first person I interviewed was my friend Shay, .She explained that a dream meant “sleeping, pleasant, and serene” to her. For her dream house, what came to mind was a big exotic house that was like celebrity status. The reason for this is because for her fantasy dream house, it would be big and different than what she was used to. I asked another one of my girlfriends named Debbie the same questions and what the word dream means to her. She said she thought of the word “goal” and “sleeping” as well. When it came to her dream home, she thought of a comfortable house not so much big but average. This was different from Shay’s answer. Next I asked my friend Dave who is from Lyon, France what he thought about the questions and how he felt about coming to the U.S. His answer was that dreams lie “among things you wish on and can become reality”. He didn’t think so much of the American dream: “I thought more of becoming successful and wanting to visit the U.S. to see how it was like”. But he explained to me that this isn’t true for all foreigners. His dream house is a house that is comfortable and reflects who he is, that is elegant and average size, to keep the family bond together not far apart.
The overall discussion with my interviewees made me redirect my research question as well as have a different view point on my whole topic about dreams. After talking to my interviewees I found out that there weren’t many people who are inspired by their unconscious state of mind with their designs and during their life. When I had talked to my professors about their dreams and if they ever incorporated their dreams in their design, they had told me no. This was a shock to me because I felt as though I was the only one that has been inspired and has incorporated my dreams in my designs. Since they were interior design professors, I would think they would have related, but they didn’t. For my conclusion, I found out that I was receiving more responses about dreams being a goal, inspiration, and influence on their lives compared to sleep making an impact on their lives.
References
Freud, S. (1998). Interpretations of Dreams. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/freud
Hori, T, Ogwana, K, Abe, T, Nittono, H. (2008). Brain potentials related to rapid eye movements and dreaming during REM sleep: A short review of psycho physiological correlates. Sleep & Biological Rhythms, 6 (3), 128-138, 11, 4 diagrams, 4 graphs. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST
Kantrowitz, B, Springmen, K, Wingert, P, Ulick, J. (2004).What Dreams Are Made Of. Newseek. 44 (6), 40-47, 8. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST
Koch, A. (2009). Dreams: Bringing Us Two steps Closer to The Client’s Perspective, 8 (4), 333-348. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=23&hid=12&sid=05984fc9-20fb-4090-aff0-167aa015867c%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=47029584db=a9h&AN=47029584
Lippman, P. (2006). The Canary in the mind: On the fate of dreams in psychoanalysis and in contemporary coulture. American Journal of Psychanalysis. 66 (2), 113-130, 18. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST
Potthoff, J. K. (2006). Interior Designer in Architectural Education. International Journal of Art and Design. 25 (2). 217-230, 14, 2charts, 2graphs. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST
Schaverien, J. (2005). Art, dreams and active imagination: A post – Junigan approach to transference and the image. 50 (2), 127-153, 27. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=12&sid=05984fc9-20fb-4090-aff0-167aa015867c%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=16433614db=a9h&AN=16433614
Wallack, C. 2009. Dream Home: Remodeling American expectations with model houses. The journal of American Culture. 32 (4), 332-341.
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