Week 8 - The Decorator

Interior Decorators have been around since the early 1900s, but really made their debut at the 1925 World’s Fair in Paris. At this exposition, there were two main groups, the functionalists and the decorators. Functionalists focused on form and theory and really did not use excessive accessories or furnishings while Decorators created ensembles by choosing and combining objects to create a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing environment.

This profession was greatly needed because, at the end of WW2, wealthy families really wanted their homes to reflect their status, so a cohesive interior was necessary. A lot of these families also lived in Victorian era housing, so they wanted their homes to be reconfigured into a less cluttered, more modern atmosphere. Duties of the Interior Decorator included being able to furnish interiors according to a particular period style and to accomplish this, they would obtain furnishings, art, accessories, floor coverings, and anything else needed to complete the space. Originally, the title of Interior Decorator was interchangeable with Interior Designer, because neither were usually formally trained. Today the title of Interior Decorator is still used to describe those who have not been trained, but the title Interior Designer describes those who have been. This profession was begun by three very influential, untrained decorators named Elsie de Wolfe, Dorothy Draper, and Billy Baldwin. At that time, there weren’t opportunities for training for Interior Design, just Art and Architecture. The New York School of Fine and Applied Arts finally offered courses on Interior Design, so formal training was available to anyone who wanted education in that field. Interior Design is now a serious field and one of the few areas of expertise in which women dominate.

Design Examples

Frances Adler Elkins

Dorothy Draper

Elsie de Wolfe

Current Applications

Inspired by Dorothy Draper

Inspired by Frances Elkins

One Step Further

Frances Adler Elkins is known as “the first great California decorator” and is also known for her “vibrant interiors, in which solid historical references met effervescent modernist fantasy.” Elkins began her journey into decorating and design when she went to Europe with her brother, David Adler, and collaborated with Jean-Michel Frank and Alberto Giacometti to develop lamps and furniture. Elkins then married her husband, had three kids, and then moved to California. After the move, Elkins and her husband divorced, leaving her to support their children on her own. In order to support her children, Elkins turned to interior decorating and thus started her career.

One of Elkins’s first projects was the Monterry Colonial house, designed by George Washington Smith. Her combination of Chippendale furniture, Queen Anne mirrors, Ming screens, and modern lamps furthered her career and made her very popular throughout San Francisco. She was then anointed as “decorator of choice” for prominent families all over California. Her status continued to grow and she began collaborating on projects with David Adler on various houses around California and Illinois. A few of Elkins signature interior design choices include steel inlaid into ebonized oak floor and glass molding around mantle pieces. Some other design choices she integrates would be parquet flooring, goat skin leather wall covering, and Chinese silk wall covering. Her designs allowed some of her houses, such as the Kersey Coates Reed House, to be included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Frances Elkins contributed several things to the design world, such as the Loop Chair and the Spider Chair. Her design style was considered a mixture of traditional and contemporary styles. Elkins favored French provincial furniture and designs by Frank and Giacometti, the first people with whom she collaborated. She designed using the colors white, yellow, and blue and her favorite flowers to design with were pink and red carnations. Her bold style allowed her to be one of the most influential designers in the twentieth century.