Ciulla, What Is Work?

In Ciulla's, "What Is Work" she discusses different ways that the word "work" is interpretted, proving that there is no one set definition of the word work.  In one of her chapters titled " Work as an Attitude" Ciulla explains how titling a task as "work" rather than "an activity" affects the way people go about completing the task; it makes the task seem more tedious and unpleasant.  As an interior design student I have experienced a small dose of what professional interior designers experience in the "professional world".  If Iconsidered all of the time consuming tasks that I have to complete in order to put together a successful presentation as "work" I would never get it all done.  I always try to find something enjoyable in the tasks that I have for my design class in order to complete the tasks to the best of my abilities.

In another chapter titled "Anything Can Be Work" Ciulla says that Webster's New Unabridged Dictionary defines work as " the bodily or mental effort exerted to do or make something; purposeful activiy; labor; toil." Ciulla  later states that "on the one hand work is necessary and restrictive of our freedom, while on the other hand it is purposeful and creative."  The work of an interior designer is toil; it is extremely exhausting and time consuming.  The Webster's definition of work comes very close to defining the work of an interior designer.  Interior designers spend countless hours working on schemes, drafting, rendering, and creating presentations all to end up with a funtional, purposeful design.

In Ciulla's chapter "The Labor of Our Bodies" she explains that while labor does involve physical activity is not always an extremely strenuous act.  She goes on to define the word "laborer" as an individual who contributes to the making or doing of something.  This is exactly what an interior designer does.  Interior design does involve physical labor, however it is not extreme. Interior designers take an idea or concept and turn it into floor plans and construction documents. These plans get approved by architects and are then turned into tangible spaces by contractors. The interior designer does not physically take part in building the structure but their "work" is what lead to the actual structure.

The chapter "Work That Hurts" Ciulla talks about work and the toil and drudgery that goes along with it.  Drudgery refers to work that is dull and minuteness, while toil refers to exhausting, continous work/labor.  I would not say that interior design is dull or minuteness but I would definitely say that it is extremely time consuming and exhausting.  Interior designers spend hours upon hours either hand drafting or digitally creating plans, and then create presentations that they will eventually present to clients.  More times that not the client will not be completely satisfied with the inital design presented to them which means that it is back to the drawing board, literally, for the designer.  That is the most stressful feeling because all of the hours put into the original design become worthless.  Interior design is very stressful because designers are constantly faced with difficult clients and the issue of problem solving.