The method of working with other professionals.

Types of Consultants

Acoustic Engineer

Art Consultant

Code Consultant

Color Specialist

Electrical Engineer

Fire Protection Engineer

Furniture Consultant

Kitchen Consultant

Landscape Architect

Lighting Consultant

Mechanical Engineer

Plumbing Engineer

Wayfinding Consultant

Sustainability Consultant

Structural Engineer

Collaboration refers to the process of design teams working together to achieve a common goal or result. Whether it’s working closely with the client, the contractor, or an external consultant during the design process, collaboration is an important part of all stages of interior design projects.

In architecture and interior design, there are many types of consultants that may be hired to work on a project, depending on scale and type. A consultant is typically a licensed professional in a particular field. While there are no existing set standards for engaging consultants for an interior project, hiring a consultant depends on the scope of the project.

Collaboration is also critical in design education. Black Mountain College, an experimental college in North Carolina modeled on the Staatliches Bauhaus in Germany, was founded in the 1930s as a place for artistic collaboration, where visual artists, designers, and poets were encouraged to work together across disciplines, expanding ideas of what constituted a design education.

As in any other creative industry, there are other collaborations in the design profession where manufacturers work with external designers to develop collections of furniture, textiles, flooring, or lighting. There is added value when the designer brings a fresh perspective to the process, and together the company and the designs can reach a larger audience through the partnership.