Orothy Draper: An American Interior Designer

orothy Draper was an American interior designer, living from November 1889 to March 1969. Draper was known for her anti-minimalist or somewhat extravagant style, as she liked to use bright, exuberant colors with large prints that covered whole walls. The interiors that Draper designed often featured black and white tiles, rococo scroll-work and even some baroque plaster-work; creating an image now considered to represent the Hollywood Regency style of interior design.

Draper was born into an aristocratic family named Tuckerman, in one of the most privileged communities in American history, Tuxedo Park in New York. This was only one of the family’s homes, as Draper spent her time in the Manhattan town house as well as a summer cottage in Newport,

Here she used dramatic color schemes, and her trademark cabbage-rose chintz (as the sofa pictured sitting on is decorated in) became very popular. She promoted shiny black ceilings, acid green woodwork and cherry red floors, saying that “Lovely clear colors have a vital effect on our mental happiness.” Draper loved to use very dramatic and contrasting color schemes, such as black and white with splashes of color. She combined different colors, fabrics and patterns, often combining stripes with floral patterns, and liked to use large, oversized details and numerous mirrors. This impressive style became known as ‘the Draper touch’ and began being incorporated into homes, hotels, restaurants, theaters and department stores. By 1937, Draper had become a household name whose aesthetic enthusiasm had become adopted by housewives all around the

This spurred Draper onto creating her own business, and in 1925 she started an Architectural Clearing house, saying it was ‘arguably the first official interior design business.’ This was immediately successful, with Draper completing a number of lobby renovations, so in 1929 she changed the business’s name to Dorothy Draper and Company. With this her success went from strength to strength, and she made her first break in the early 1930s when she was hired by Douglas Elliman (owner of a real estate company in New York + Manhattan) to redecorate his Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan, making it the first of many important hotel commissions. Elliman was impressed by Draper’s flair for interior design and hired her again to redecorate a block of former tenant homes because they were not selling. Here Draper redecorated with her signature black with white trim, adding colors to the doors. Draper’s involvement in hotel deign grew, with many prominent hotels asking for redecoration, and even at the height of the depression Draper spent $10 million designing the Quitandina in Rio de Janeiro. In 1937 Draper created a top-to-bottom interior design scheme for the exclusive Hampshire House apartment hotel. The lobby was decorated with a black and white checkerboard floor, a thick glass Art Deco