Decor Arts Now

I took a page from my own dance card yesterday and attended a lecture at the D&D building given by the critically acclaimed author and professor of design history at the New York School of Interior Design (NYSID), Judith Gura. Gura surveyed great designers and their work over the last century or so, beginning with Edith Wharton, co-author with Ogden Codman of The House in Good Taste and including such luminaries as Elsie de Wolfe, Ruby Ross Wood, Rose Cummings, Billy Baldwin, Sister Parish and Albert Hadley among others.  Click on the names above, which contain articles from a variety of other sources, to learn more about these designers.

I found it  particularly interesting when Gura commented on notable “firsts”.  For example, she credited Nancy Lancaster as being the founder in this country of the English Country style.  Here is a picture of Lancaster’s most famous room, often referred to as the “yellow room”.

According to Gura, subsequent great  designers such as Mario Buatta drew heavily on the Lancaster tradition.  Here is a Mario Buatta (known as the “Prince of Chintz”) interior:

Thanks to Alicia B. Designs for these photos of  the yellow room and the Mario Buatta interior.  I think yesterday’s posts of Charlotte Moss’ work also show the influence of Nancy Lancaster.

Gura found another “first”  in the work of Dorothy Draper.  She said that Draper was the first designer to convince a business person that a well designed locale would make them money.  Draper was most noted for her commercial interiors such as hotels and restaurants, with the Greenbrier Hotel and Spa in West Virginia among her most famous.  Here it is :

Photo courtsey of Artistry in Faux.  Draper’s work emphasizes bold gestures and vibrant color schemes, with green being a favorite,  highlighted by white moldings and other trims,  black and white checkerboard floors and neo-baroque furnishings and lighting.  Photo courtesy of Cote De Texas.

Draper designed every aspect of her commercial interiors, down to the dinnerware and menus.  Here is an example of a bureau in the classic Draper style:

Photo courtesy of The Glam Lamb.

I couldn’t help but wonder where Kelly Wearstler would be today without Dorothy Draper.  Compare Wearstler’s work for the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica and at Bergdorf Goodman with Draper’s shown above.

Photo of the Viceroy Hotel courtesy of Kalu Interiors.

Don’t those gold moldings in the bar at Bergdorf Goodman remind you of the Draper bureau!  Photo of Bergdorf Goodman courtesy of Apartment Therapy.

Gura went on to discuss the work of William Pahlmann.  Here is one of his rooms (photo courtesy of the Peak of Chic, who also does a great article on Pahlmann). Gura said Pahlmann was the first designer to create room suites in department stores as a means to sell the furniture.  My guess is that the folks at Ralph Lauren Home certainly know about him!

Three other designers mentioned seem to me to have had a huge impact on contemporary design today.  First there is  Syrie Maugham and her famous “white room, ” shown here:   Gura said that she was the first designer to do a room all in white .

Then there is a designer and architect that was very new to me,  Alan Buchsbaum.  Gura said that he was the first to do the “loft” look.  According to Gura, without him, all of those great Soho lofts would have been carved up into “classic 7″ type apartments with lots of separate rooms.  Click on his name to read his obituary which does a great job of describing his work.  I plan to read the book about him, available at Amazon.

Finally, Gura mentioned another designer, Ward Bennett, who she says is the father of minimalism, best shown by this shot (courtesy of Todd M. Haley’s blog) of his own apartment at the Dakota:

The designer, Jennifer Post immediately popped into my mind after learning about these 3 designers.  You can see the influence of the white interior, the loft look and minimalism throughout her work:

Photo of Jennifer’s work courtesy of Cincinnati Magazine.  Click on Jennifer’s name to see more of her work.

The lecture was a great event.  Afterwoard,  Osborne and Little hosted a lovely reception in their showroom where we had an opportunity to chat with Gura and Ellen Fisher, Associate VP of Academic Affairs & Academic Advisor at NYSID.  In this photo, Gura is on the left and Fisher is on the right.  Fisher said that these types of lectures are a new part of the NYSID program and mentioned that a new catalog of  continuing education offerings would be available online in early November.  Anyone can sign up and I hope you do.

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