INTERIOR DESIGN AND DECORATION | ENGLISH ARTICLES

INTERIOR DESIGN AND DECORATION The art of planning and producing interiors of structures based on function, comfort, convenience, and aesthetic appeal. The professional interior designer and decorator designs, plans, and furnishes the interiors of houses, commercial and institutional structures, hotels, clubs, theaters, restaurants, public areas, etc. He studies areas from the standpoint of the maximum use of space involved, traffic patterns, suitability of the design to the persons and purposes of the area, and the creation of desirable atmosphere. The art of interior design and of decoration was conceived when the first elements of comfort, convenience, and attempts at beautification were introduced into dwellings. The modern art of interior design as we now think of it emerged during the Italian Renaissance, when Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, commissioned the Grotta in 1496. Another important influence on interior design was Catherine de Vivonne, Marquise of Rambouillet, who early in the 17th century sought to accommodate the great rooms of drafty French chateaux to human needs, with special emphasis on the bedroom, to which she contributed the alcove, boudoir, antechamber, and bath. She is also remembered for her influence on the armchair, to which she added width, warmth, yielding parts, padding, and new color designs. The collections of Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture made in the American colonies, now at the Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Del., provide an index to the style and quality of eighteenth-century American interiors. The influence of English furniture designers Thomas Sheraton and George Hepple-white also became apparent at this time. There were also definite traces of the Directoire and Empire periods (1804-1814) in design, showing a renewed interest in the classic arts of Greece and Rome. American Federal designs, which popularized the use of patriotic American symbols as ornaments for furnishings, began to appear early in the 19th century. It was around 1808 that Tho�mas Jeffer\son completed Monticello, his magnificent home near Char\lottesville, Va., after designs of the great 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio. American Society of Interior Designers. Joining forces with the Art-In-Trade Club, founded in 1909, these two men and others interested in the future of their profession founded the American Institute of Decorators (now the American Society of Interior Designers) in 1931. This association, organized to maintain standards of design and professional practice as well as high ethical standards for the profession, now has chartered chapters in 50 states, and in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Europe, and the Far East. Interior Designers. Many U.S. interior designers of today received their basic training at Wanamaker’s. There is a large area in the field of in\terior design that is nonresidential and is generally called contract work. Business organizations have found that a well-designed interior not only functions better internally but enhances public relations as well and is good publicity for the firm. However, large department stores usually have interior decorating departments which give advice free of charge when purchases are made in or through the store.