The Rise of the Decorator

 

This is the green room at the Emmy's designed by
Dorothy Draper Designs.

Dorothy Draper was born in 1889 and passed in 1969.  She was the type of decorator to use traditional furniture, but turn it into something unique and use in a non-traditional ways.  Her style was fun and appealing with a funky overall feel.  She was known for dramatic use of black and white on walls, floors and fabrics but clear vivid colors on most other aspects.  Her success led her to be on the cover of Time and Life magazine as well as become a writer of a well known news column.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cafeteria was one of Draper's famous interiors but her most famous was probably the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia.  This happens to be one of my favorite designs of all time.  I have previously heard about the Greenbrier, yet didn't realize the intensity of the project or that Dorothy decorated the whole interior.  I hope to some day visit the hotel to see the interior decorating myself.
 

Many of us have an opinion about the difference between an Interior Decorator and Interior Designer but back in 1925, the profession of Interior Decorators was the only way to go. The rise of decorators becoming more prominent began in Paris during the Art Deco period.  At this time, they were known as Ensemblier or decorateur.  There were many decorators of this time such as Elsie de Wolfe, Dorothy Draper and Billy Baldwin, but Dorothy Draper is who caught my attention. 


Elsie de Wolfe Interior

Now that I have talked about Dorothy, here are a few facts about Elsie de Wolfe and Billy Baldwin.  Elsie was originally an actress who pursued interior design.  She started out restoring Victorian interiors into light and bright spaces using French furniture.  She was an individual who helped interior design become a separate profession from architecture.  Billy Baldwin lived from 1903 - 1983.  He designed for the middle class and many famous people.  He only used a specific color scheme and believed that "Color is like icing on the cake.  I never begin with a color scheme, I end with it."




Modern Applications:

Entrance Hall Kips Bay Show House 2007 by Beale-Lana Interior
Design inspired by Dorothy Draper

Billy Baldwin Modern Interior

Modern Living Room inspired by Dorothy Draper




Discussion:

For this topic, I looked at Natalie L's blog and Katie K's blog.  I enjoyed their blogs because it is interesting to see how we all think differently and similarly about the designers of this time.  Both of  them used very cool pictures and Natalie's video was interesting to watch since I'm a fan of the Greenbrier hotel.