Promoting diversity within the interiors industry

At the Mayor’s Fund, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse employee base will provide benefits both to business and society as a whole.

We continue to champion diverse young talent and inspire a future generation through our Diversity Pledge, which aims to break down barriers for young people from low-income and BAME backgrounds by working with London’s business community to transform their outreach, recruitment and progression practices.

Our employability programmes also continue to do their bit. Access Aspiration now works with thousands of students across London, of which 75% are from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) backgrounds. The works with top London businesses to provide high quality careers advice and work experience placements across a wide range of sectors from banking to beauty.

We are delighted to announce that the latest Access Aspiration partnership is with Design for Diversity – an initiative set up by interior designers Rukmini Patel and Kate Watson-Smyth to address the perceived lack of diversity in the interiors industry and how to solve it. Design for Diversity share our vision for a better world where the colour of your skin or where you grew up does not affect your future job prospects.

The designers will host a special ‘Access All Areas’ webinar for our students covering all aspects of the interiors industry, what to look out for and how to get a foot in the door. We hope this event will open our students’ eyes to a career in the interiors industry, raise aspirations among young people and promote inclusivity within an industry that, although presenting lots of opportunities, can often seem out of reach.

All of our Access Aspiration student resources are available to view here. If you’re interested in partnering with us on any of the initiatives mentioned above, please get in touch with Louise Richmond via lrichmond@mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk.

To find out more about Design for Diversity, click here.