The Plurality Caused by Formal and Informal Education in The Field of Interior Architecture: An Evaluation on Furniture Design

Abstract

The changeable, multicomponent and ambiguous nature of design can also be observed in the field of education; therefore, the state of plurality caused by the coexistence of formal and informal education becomes a subject matter which should be often negotiated and emphasized. Competitions are a part of informal education and they are recitation-based activities. In terms of their relation to formal education, competitions influence the process of creating the necessary grounds for new production and sharing. When the discipline of interior design is concerned, furniture design competitions are informal experiences which students of interior architecture can take part in. This paper aims to examine the plurality caused by the relationship between formal education and informal activity as in furniture design competitions whose number increases rapidly. The analysis of informal education, being one of the two components forming the structure of this study, is based on the data gained through the results of quantitative and qualitative research on two furniture design competitions. The competitions are analyzed according to their categories, number participants per year, educational institutions and branches of the winners. The analysis of formal education is based on an investigation of furniture design courses belonging to academic curriculum of students who won prizes in competitions.