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Week 8 | The Rise of the Decorator/ History of Women in Interior Design

Rise of The Decorator and History of Women in Interior Design

Around the turn of the century and through the early 1900’s, the profession of Interior Design started to become more common. It emerged through the profession of Architecture, which was learned through formal training, but many early interior designers were untrained. They claimed the name of Interior Decorator by collecting furniture and accessories. At this time in history, there was a growing need for professionals who could furnish homes according to a style. Interior designers filled the position for this need, that before, was mostly done by various craftsmen that were hired by architects. An interior designer, or perhaps more appropriately called decorator, could fully furnish a home and include art and floor coverings to create an overall scheme. The growing middle and wealthy upper classes were huge contributors to this need. 
            Originally, the profession was mostly dominated by men, as were most careers. However, women started to emerge within interior design. There were three designers in particular who had no formal training, but made huge contributions to the field of interior design, two of them being women. Their names were Elsie Wolfe, Dorothy Draper, and Billy Baldwin. 
A Dorothy Draper Design


A Billy Baldwin Chair "Slipper Chair"

Present Day Women Designers

Laura Day - Interior Designer


Zaha Hadid


One step further...
I was most struck by the designer Elsie Wolfe. Wolfe left her career path as an actress to pursue interior design. Her values were: comfort, practicality, beauty, and quality lighting. She always included unique daylighting techniques and fixtures within her designs. She loved to play with colors and exotic prints, while stabilizing a room with white walls. Wolfe mixed eighteenth century french furniture with modern accessories of her time to achieve a balanced look. She despised the heaviness and darkness of the Victorian era. A quote by her that I really liked is: "I'm going to make everything around me beautiful, that will be my life". 








Comments

  1. SimiMarch 16, 2019 at 5:45 PM

    Olivia, I liked your one step further about Elsie Wolf. Her quote you included really shows how passionate she was about design. She wanted to make things beautiful to the point where she stopped acting totally even when she didn't have any formal training in that area. I think that was a pretty neat and courageous step and you could tell her heart was really into being a decorator.

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  2. Christyanne WheelerMarch 16, 2019 at 7:39 PM

    I too really like the quote you added by Elsie Wolf. I also find it very interesting how she added both eighteenth century style with modern. Her designs must have been magnificent to the people who had been surrounded by the heaviness of the Victorian era for so long .

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  3. Professor VanderNoordaaMarch 27, 2019 at 11:28 AM

    Olivia once again great summary! I love your images and the focus on Elsie de Wolfe she was a trail blazer! I am thrilled you mentioned Zaha Hadid as she was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Nice Summary

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