A Decade of Originality: Be Original Americas Looks Back & Beyond
Be Original Americas celebrates its 10th Anniversary in 2022, a true milestone in our continuing advocacy for originality, integrity, and authenticity in the designs that shape and enhance our lives. As the new year begins—and the work goes on—we spoke with Coleman Gutshall, former Be Original President and new Vice President for 2022, and Sherri Simko, our new President, to reflect on the achievements of the last decade and explore how we’re taking our mission into the next one.
Coleman, Bernhardt Design has been a founding member of Be Original Americas (2012). How have you seen the organization change?
CG: We have grown from a small band of founding members to over 150 organizations that range from multibillion dollar corporations to entrepreneurs, retailers and many prominent architects and designers. We started out fighting to be heard both within and outside the industry, and we’ve grown to partner with consumers, distributors, specifiers, educators, and even government regulators. Of course, over a decade, any successful organization changes and grows, but I’m particularly struck by how much has stayed constant. Even as we’ve gained new members and launched new initiatives, our mission and values today are the same as were penned over ten years ago, which is a testament to the enduring importance of our cause
How has education—a core value of our mission—contributed to greater understanding of the value of original design?
CG: Education is essential. Those in the design industry live and breathe designs and products every day, but that’s not true of everyone else. We’ve found the most effective education is tailored to the needs of specific audiences. That’s why we have employed a variety of tools to help educate different audiences: the Be Original Americas CEU, partnering with Customs and Border Protection to teach their agents, the online Student Fellowship focused on the business of design to students all over the world, (when we could) seminars and panels in multiple cities, working with major retailers to educate their merchandisers. We talk about specific ways to spot knock-offs, but also about the fact that selecting original is selecting value over price and that supporting original supports the people who create and make.
SS: Our outreach through the Student Fellowship programming, the member-written blogs we publish on our website, and social media posts providing doses of useful information, reach students, designers, and consumers alike. Our media partners graciously contribute insightful articles that reach a wide audience. So, the short answer is that we are working through a multitude of platforms with continuous, valuable information that provides examples of why the value of original design is so important.
Recently, the Student Fellowship transformed from an exclusive, 2-student tour into a worldwide virtual program inviting nearly 3000 online participants “inside” the facilities and processes of member companies. What will the Fellowship look like in 2022?
SS: The sessions our current design firm members provided the last two years through our virtual programming have received very high participation and feedback from the students and design firm members alike. We are looking forward to bringing back some in-person elements as well this year for the Fellowship, and to bringing on more Architectural and Design Firm members to provide programming.
Coleman, you held the office of President of Be Original Americas for two years. What was your greatest challenge? Your greatest joy?
CG: The greatest challenge in general has been, and will continue to be, how to make the greatest impact with the limited resources we have. We are very thankful for the generous support we receive, yet Be Original Americas is still a small non-profit fighting a major problem in our industry. We have to be strategic and smart about what we pursue and with whom, and I think we have been over the past decade.
The greatest challenge over the past two years has been, obviously, how to tell our story during a pandemic. So much of our work was face-to-face, and all of that stopped. The joy has been seeing how the Fellowship—a deeply immersive program for 2 lucky students—flourished. Arguably, it became a stronger program as a virtual series attended by thousands of students.
Sherri, you’ve been a member for quite some time, and congratulations on becoming President! What are some of the initiatives you are thinking about for the next year?
SS: I am delighted to put my passion for design to work by contributing time and energy engaging with our members, and to create even greater membership value through outreach and resources. For example, we will develop ways the design community and the public can search for products, brands and services of our members, creating a source for easily finding firms that support authenticity and originality in design.
In addition, our 10th year is a great time to build on the incredible momentum our members, board and charter members have established. There is a good energy coming from Be Original Americas and it is a pivotal time in the world where attention on sustainability and resource conservation is changing how we do business. The throwaway mentality is under scrutiny, and the desire to reuse, restore and cherish objects is growing. We see signs of more respect for authenticity, including a “less is more” mentality and disdain for knock-offs, whose substandard quality and short life spans contribute to landfills.
With recent and ongoing events, all of us have seen benefits of blending virtual and in-person communications. The success of the pivot to a virtual student fellowship is a great example, as this blend helped us reach more students and designers. Looking forward, what is important is that we develop meaningful programming that can bring us together as a community.
Learn more about our mission and Join Us in our advocacy.