Interior Designer Dorothy Draper – Bottom Defiler?
The actual profession of interior designer is attributed to a woman named Dorothy Draper, who was commissioned to decorate the thirty-seven floors of the Hampshire House hotel in Manhattan in 1937. Despite the fact that renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright called her a “inferior desecrator,” Draper had decorated dozens of offices, restaurants, hospitals, and even a car for Packard (in 1952) and the interior of an airplane for Convair (the 880) before her. died in 1969.
Ms. Draper also left a legacy through a series of books, including a series of books on entertainment etiquette, some of which have recently been reprinted to help members of modern high society entertain guests and be the soul of your parties. In a way, Dorothy Draper was the Martha Stewart of her day, offering advice on a wide variety of topics to her avid readers.
Although Dorothy Draper is no longer a household name, she had a huge effect on American interior design ideas in her day, and although she had her detractors (such as Frank Lloyd Wright and others), there is no denying that it was she who made the profession of interior designer possible for all who came after her.
Much of Ms. Draper’s work has not survived to this day, but you can still see some of Ms. Draper’s work in various locations around the country. For example, there are still Dorothy Draper chandeliers hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. For a less prosaic look at Draper’s influence, simply look for the blue and orange facades of the many Howard Johnson restaurants that still dot the countryside from coast to coast. Her color scheme was first suggested by Dorothy Draper.
The science of interior design has come a long way in the last seventy years. Today, it is a multi-billion dollar industry and incorporates aspects of environmental psychology and architecture, as well as product and furniture design to create spaces that work well and are aesthetically pleasing to their owners.
