Series: Women in Design

In 1988 ASID reported that 72% of women were interior designers. By 1998, the number increased to 81%. Yet at that same time, 70% of the 120 designers admitted to Interior Design's Hall of Fame were men. The number of women attending design school has gradually increased over the decade (I’m trying to find statistics for 2008/2009), however, estimating the number of women currently practicing in the field is difficult to find. Estimating the number of who are industrial designers is even more difficult.

One explanation for this is that many women are in and out of the workforce turning their attention to their families. Another reason, I was told, was that women lacked self-promotional, business and management skills to raise their profiles.

Oh really?

Or has the media let them down.

Why is this?

Women have been crucial to the development of interior design as a discipline and profession. The active participation of women in the history of interior design has yet to be seriously treated by scholars and historians (with the exception of Penny Sparke, Pat Kirkham, Beatriz Colomina and others who have made extraordinary contributions.)

After all, what is a well-decorated room compared to an acknowledged work of art? Or the architectural design of a building? The interior design of a room is fleeting, composed of everyday objects -- paint, fabric, ornaments, furniture and knickknacks. They can change as quickly in color and detail as the leaves on a tree. While the initial visual impact may be memorable, its longevity is limited and subject to the whims of popular taste. The study of the history of interior design is only recently being taken seriously.

A second reason women have been largely ignored is that, unfortunately, the attitude towards women having an innate knack for "decorating" has not seemed to change much over the centuries. Women were recognized as having a natural instinct for the placement of color and objects; the activity was also deemed suitable for them. And so it began, slowly at first, but steadily thereafter -- women as the arbiters of taste in their fine new houses that sprang up everywhere in America.

I propose to post a series of posts with your help -- dear readers -- about women interior and furniture designers, some names we have heard of, but others who have been forgotten by time. I would like to uncover these women, dust off their names and give them the attention they deserve. Some of this information is difficult to find, but I think as a collaborative effort we can... and, therefore, begin to rewrite history.

To Mrs. & Mr. EEE

A very merry and hearty congratulations! Although marriage is about respect, partnership, friendship, compromise, ((certainly attraction)), and memories of times you spend together… I give to you your own room, Mrs. EEE.

Design it as you please – with a large window to let streams of sunshine in, or French doors leading out to a balcony filled with blooming flowers in springtime. A fireplace inside for cold winters, high ceilings so as not to constrict your thoughts, and a warm and worn floor from many brilliant thinkers of the past who have paced about in the same room.

Decorate it as you may with a Linke desk,

François Linke Louis XVI style gilt-bronze Desk, Sotheby’s New York, April 20, 2009



or one designed by Carlo Mollino,
Oak Writing Desk from the Casa Editrice Lattes, Christie's: New York, September 26, 2007

or even a simple one from Ikea. Add pooling silk drapes on the windows or tidy pinch-pleat tartan ones. Built-in bookshelves galore! And a window seat with a cushion for the cats. Paint your room white, paint it black, paint it whatever color you desire.

Mica Ertegun (MACII) for Barbara Goldsmith NYC apartment. Source architechturaldigest.com

But know that this room is yours and you are to do with it what you like. I do believe in marriage, there is a time for love and partnership, but also a time for you. So this room is a place for you to think and write and create. Because when you give time to yourself you will always be enthusiastic to give time to Mr. EEE and that way you will continue to build a very lovely and significant future together….

Yes, No, Maybe So? Skull & Bones

We’ve aired our differences on blogs about mounting Elk heads on walls or using cow rugs to cover our floors. Many tend to be in favor of using these items to decorate a room, however, not without a little *twinge* -- some of us pausing for a quick moment, pondering about the once live animal.

But what about something that is human?

Remember the plastic glow-in-the-dark skulls growing up that we bought at the five and dime store? Or those out there who have bought them for your kids. They were cool, but also creepy. But if we had to handle a real human skill (excluding med students) how many of us would get squeamish? And feel, well... weird.

Christie’s (New York) just pulled a lot from the January 22nd upcoming sale. It was a real human skull from the nineteenth century that had been used as a ballot box by Yale’s elite and old Skull and Bones society (est. 1832). The skull was given an estimate of $10,000 to $20,000.

The skull has a hinged flap on the top of the head and believed to have been used as a ballot box to collect votes during the cryptic society’s meetings.

Who was the one who sawed through the skull to make the lid -- bits of bone dust flying around in their eyes, nose and mouth?


top image from Haunt Your Home; second image from Huffingtom Post.

To Haiti

A tiny little country with a wreath of clouds around its mountains and a long coastline has been plagued by revolutions, corrupt political leaders, poverty and now a devastating earthquake.

Jasmin Joseph (b. 1923) Caribbean Village, 1983
Christie’s, New York: September 3, 2008

Haiti was once a rich and flourishing country. It is now the poorest country in the Western world.

Wilson Bigaud (b. 1931), La Ronde, 1953
Christie's East: May 19, 1992

They have an old religion, an old oral history, and an old mythology woven into a complex cultural foundation.

Hector Hyppolite, (1894-1948), La Dauration l’amour (The Adoration of Love), 1946-48 Milwaukee Art Museum

Haiti has one of the richest visual spirits. Sparkling with vitality, Haitian art has an unprecedented openness and honesty.

Wilson Bigaud, Haitian Market Scene (date unknown) ; Sloans & Kenyon: Chevy Chase, MD; February 11, 2007

Haitians are not ordinary people, they are visionaries.

Salnave Philippe-Auguste (b. 1908), Flamingoes, c. 1962-1964

Wishes to them that their courage and strength will point the way toward a hopeful future. I hope their spirit will rise once more.

Rigaud Benoit (b. 1911), The Healing of the Sick, c.1964

Top image: Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948), St Francis and the Christ Child, 1946-1948 ; Last two images from the book Haitain Art by Ute Stebich, 1978. Erzulie, the Voodoo goddess of love, is known for her love of flamingoes.

Yes No Maybe So? Maarten Baas' Ice Bucket from his Melting Collection

La Maison Ruinart, the oldest established Champagne house in the world, was founded in 1729. The first release of the Dom Ruinart prestige cuvée was in 1959. To celebrate the 50th anniversary last year, the house commissioned Dutch designer Maarten Baas to create something for the table to commemorate it. The result : The Melting Collection Ice Bucket.

Any of us in favor of this design?

It is offered in a limited edition of 50 signed and numbered pieces. And comes in a felt-lined leather and wood presentation box and a "display" Dom Ruinart bottle. The display as the bottle is filled with water, not champagne.

The price: $8,800.00. You can buy it HERE.

The glasses are not a limited edition run and available in a gift box which contain two glasses and a bottle of cuvée. click HERE for more images from designboom.

Does anyone remember in the 1980s those plastic kitchy pop art-ish items people would display in their homes such as a glass raised in the air spilling out plastic milk, or a Hershey bar melting? My friend's mom had a lot in her house.

That is what this ice bucket reminds me of.

While I'm a fan of Maarten Baas furniture creations, I'm not so crazy about this. It reminds me of the gag joke of plastic vomit. Sorry Maarten.

(vomit image from retrojunk.com)

Why Women Like ‘Em Big

We say size doesn’t matter. But yet we like them big. We marvel at the curves, the slope of the shoulders, the taughtness of form. We salivate and fantasize, even fetishize. A good one can stop us in our tracks; we bat our eyelashes, blush and say to ourselves: I must have it.

But why? Why do we seem to prefer them so big?

The humble table lamp -- the bigger, the better. For all the preening we do in our homes, we have come to love big lamps. Take a look around, I bet there are a few in your home. These days lamps are as important in making an impact as a sofa or a table. But this hasn’t always been so.

Although electricity arrived in the suburbs by 1905, it wasn’t until the 1920s that electrical lamps became popular in the home. With the arrival of the Art Deco style, lighting designers explored new designs. Many of us can remember one of the first lamps we owned -- the spring form adjustable lamp we bought our freshman year in college and set in our cramped dorm rooms to study. Initially created in 1932 George Carwardine, an engineer, was inspired by the form of the human arm. He experimented with different springs creating a light that was very functional and stylish. The “Anglepoise 1209” he named it. Two years later Herbert Terry & Sons manufactured Carwardine's improved design dubbed the “1227”. The design has changed little since then.

1959 Cadillac Cyclone

The trend in interior decorating toward tall, large-scale table lamps in preference to floor lamps blossomed during the 1950s. I’m not sure why. I can certainly speculate… Cars were big back then and punctuated by big fins. The 50s was a decade of optimism. Gender roles were divided and defined. Women were encouraged to stay at home, beautify themselves as well as their homes, while men were out in the workforce. Bigness embodied a feeling of prosperity and excitement.

You can see a lot of big lamps used in set design of movies from the 50s.


Pillow Talk (1959) is one example. Doris Day’s character, Jan Morrow, is an interior decorator. In her own apartment in NYC she’s got a pair of big lamps in her bedroom. She has a telephone line that she has to share with Brad Allen, a composer and womanizer played by Rock Hudson, who is always on the phone sweet talking a female or two. Hudson gets a glimpse at Day and decides she will be the next object of his affection. In order to get close to her, he plays a gay man.

Rock Hudson has a few of his own big lamps too.





There are a variety of big vintage lamps on the market today: murano glass... (Swank Lighting)



ceramic (also from Swank Lighting)

But a leader in big lamp making, I think, was Sascha Brastoff. Brastoff worked in Los Angeles from 1953 until about 1973 creating decorative accessories, ceramics, enamels on copper, and resins of his own design.

I have three of his lamps. Kitchy, I know but I love them. I had a date one time who exclaimed that he hated my foo dog lamp (above). I am certain that was the last time we went out.

I got this lamp for my husband for a birthday. (don't look at the cords, I'm 'rearranging'.) He wasn't terribly excited. I have a third Brastoff big lamp in storage. It is of a blue, gold and white abstract stripe design. My husband doesn’t like it. He says it is much too big.

There’s no need to pay for the work of famous names to get great big lamps (at auction Brastoff’s lamps are quite affordable). You can get something big and stylish for less. Head down to your local flea market, estate sale or auction house. Who knows what you might find to light up?

(Top lamp was a find at Rivermarket Antiques in KC. I had the wallpaper roller converted, of course, into a lamp.)