Interior Design Association Executive Committee 2005 Elected
Kicking Off the RIDA Project and APIDA 2005

The executive committee for 2005 of the Interior Design Association (IDA) was elected early this year. Barrie Ho was elected once again as Chairman for the fifth successive year, while Kinney Chan and Patrick Leung were elected as Vice Chairman, Local Affairs and International & PRC Affairs, respectively. Other members of the new ex-com include: Peter Wong as General Secretary and Treasurer, Teresa Ho as Education Committee Chairlady, Anita Tang as APIDA 2005 Chairlady, and Committee Members Patrick Fong, Ivan Dai, Julia Kong, Terence Au, Horace Pan and Grace Pan. Students representing PolyU and IVE Shatin joined as Student Committee Members.

Barrie Ho shared with us two major projects of IDA in year 2005: while APIDA (Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards) will continue to be held at the end of this year (November) another core project of IDA in the coming months will be the initiation of the RIDA (Registered Interior Designers Association) project. Adding an "R", that is, "Registered", to the association's abbreviation will establish a whole new bearing on the interior design profession in Hong Kong. Gaining government support and public recognition will help promote the professional standard and integrity of interior designers and Ho envisions that in the long run, Hong Kong is to become the Asia hub of interior design. It is an on-going and long-term project, Ho admits, and expects that at least four forums will be held this year to arouse public discussion.

The First RIDA Forum
To kick off this project, an open forum to gather industry and public opinion will be held on March 12^th (Saturday). Chairing this forum will be Patrick Lau Sau-Shing (Patron of IDA and Member of Legislative Council), who will share his vision of RIDA and the legislation procedures through LEGCO; other guest speakers include Mr. Maurice Lee (Partner of Robertsons Solicitors & Notaries) who will give professional opinions on the pros and cons of industry registration; and Mr. Ambrose Cheong, Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) of the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau. Moderated by Ho, the forum will commence at 2:30pm at the Hong Kong Design Centre (28 Kennedy Road). For more information, call IDA at 2866-2039 or admin@hkida.com

APIDA 2005 - Call for Entries Coming Soon!

Photo caption:

IDA Executive Committee members (2005) and student representatives - front row from left: Horace Pan, Anita Tang, Peter Wong, Barrie Ho, Patrick Leung, Terence Au, Teresa Ho, Grace Pan; second row: student representatives and Julia Kong at far right.
Student representatives of PolyU and IVE Shatin attended the IDA Executive Committee meeting in February.