COVID-19’s impact on interior design, by the numbers

Original article posted at Business of Home on May 13, 2020.

Here’s a number to get things started: 63. That’s the number of days since actor Tom Hankstold the world that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had contracted COVID-19. By then, thousands across the world had already died from the novel coronavirus, but the couple’s diagnoses marked a wakeup call for most Americans—the disease had reached celebrities and everyday people alike. Within 10 days, New York and California had issued stay-at-home orders, and soon the rest of the country (most of it, anyhow) would follow.

Two months later, the world has irrevocably changed, and the design trade is no exception. With the mass cancellation of industry events, the widespread pausing or halting of projects, the abrupt shift to working from home, the Zooms (the endless Zooms!) and countless other disruptions large and small, we’ve seen the industry turned upside down.

Today, as some parts of the country begin to reopen for business (while others remain shut), we’re taking stock of how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the design industry, by the numbers.