History 2: Week 8 Rise of the Decorator

Dorothy Draper really caught my attention with her use of bold color and design. Her interior spaces display a great contrast between elements through patterns and hues. She was the first person to professionalize the field of interior design and created her own design firm in 1923. Not only were design firms unheard of but starting and owning a business as a women was rare and daring. Dorthy Draper and Company design studio is still a working company and continues to use the similar style techniques that Dorthy her self used. It is noted that she was a very confident women, which helped her success in both the business and design feild.

Her spaces displayed vibrant colors and daring combinations of colors and patterns. One of her favorite combinations was using a dull white against a shiny black. She also used white and black checkered floors in a lot of her spaces. Her design goals were to make people feel the quality of life when they entered the space, she was labeled as an anti-minimilst.

Dorthy lived a glamorous life style, be born into an aristocratic lifestyle in Tuxedo, New York. This was actually the first ever gated community in the United States. The finer life style continued when she was married in 1912 to Dr. George Draper, personal doctor to president Franklin D. Roosevelt. She then worked on interiors of her high society friends.