Commercial interior design is in for a bumpy ride

The interior design industry has not historically been obsessed with—or even interested in—data. It’s a phenomenon all too familiar to Amanda Schneider, the founder of ThinkLab, a market research agency that seeks to bring a quantitative approach to a highly qualitative industry. “We have to sell ‘why research’ more than what we actually do,” she tells Business of Home. “[As designers] we are a bunch of passionate individuals that really trust our guts.”

After being acquired by Sandow in 2018 (the firm was originally named Contract Consulting Group), Schneider has been working on both privately funded studies for manufacturers as well as wider-scope research that brings a data-driven approach to the big questions of the industry. And the biggest question of the moment of course is: How are designers dealing with the disruption of COVID-19?

The answer, in a…