Mount Ida College's Interior Design program would like to acknowledge 2014 New England Design Hall of Fame inductee Christina Oliver who had been a great mentor to many of our students and alumni over the years! She has worked diligently for legislative recognition for the Interior Design profession in Massachusetts.
Congratulations Christina on this well-deserved recognition.
"Although she was born into a family of architects, designers, and draftsmen, Christina Oliver did not discover a passion for interior design until after a sixteen-year career as a social worker. While Oliver was contemplating a higher degree in the mental health field, a Myers-Briggs test revealed a keen sense of space she hadn’t previously given much thought to. Once she did, she never looked back.
She earned her certificate in interior design from Boston Architectural College in 1990, and opened Oliver Interiors in 1991.
It turns out that social work isn’t so far removed from interior design: Oliver’s skill for listening to what clients really want and then translating that into personal spaces factors heavily into her success.
Giving back to the community remains a strong tenet of her work ethic; she places an emphasis on hiring interns, and often works for such nonprofits as Rosie’s Place and the Devon Nicole House at Children’s Hospital Boston. “With all the help and mentoring that I received during the time I was trying to develop my own career, I felt that I needed to give back,” says Oliver. “I work with a lot of people who have a lot of resources, and it’s important to me to do work for people who don’t have those same resources.”
As past president of ASID New England and current president of the Massachusetts Interior Design Coalition, Oliver has been dedicated to pushing through legislation allowing interior designers to bid on state projects separately from architects and engineers. After years of hard work by Oliver and other designers (including fellow New England Design Hall of Fame inductee Lisa Bonneville and Mount Ida College professor Rose Botti-Salitsky), the bill has finally been signed.
Thanks to the dedication of Oliver and others, interior designers can bid on state projects beginning November 19, 2014. •" (New England Home Magazine, 2014)
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