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We are captivated by the luminous and fascinating world of Elsie Wolfe (New York, 1865 – Versailles, 1950), the first interior designer in history. De Wolfe was a pioneer in this craft not only because she launched a new kind of job — what a revolution for a woman at the time! — but she brought light and fantasy back to American homes after the Victorian era.
English, American and French interior exegetes are familiar with the book The House in Good Taste, De Wolfe’s guide to interior design published in 1913: a collection of columns she published in various interiors magazines throughout her life, featuring her decoration tips and reflecting the trends of New York elite at the time.
Light, airiness and comfort: these are the basic concepts that guided De Wolfe’s in her job, when she abandoned her career as an actress, after having been a queen on the scenes of the most prestigious Broadway theatrical stages, in order to invent and undertake the role of interior designer.
Carrying on the idea of freshness in opposition to the darker Victorian style she had breathed in family homes since she was a child, De Wolfe legitimized the French-style décor, with rooms decorated with floral Chintz fabric, extravagant murals, trompe l’oeil wallpaper.... and a good deal of frivolity which became an added value of the space.
Browsing oline, it can be seen that in the 20s De Wolfe's favorites wer mirrored pieces of furniture, chaise-longues, together with skins or imitations of animal skins, especially zebra and leopard, to cover seats, surfaces or stairs. Her unmistakable mark was the combinations of striped patterns, especially black and white, as well as green and white. One cannot also fail to focus on her bathrooms: certainly not just any bathrooms, but designed as real rooms, and not simply as service spaces.
With a talent for the interpretation of space and her undisputed socialite qualities, De Wolfe made her way into New York's most prestigious clientele: from architect Stanford White, who entrusted her with the interiors of the Colony Club of New York, the city's first elite club exclusively for women, up to millionaire Henry Clay Frick, who commissioned her to furnish the private rooms of his building on 5th Avenue, now home to the Frick Collection. Meanwhile, a must for any interior designer, De Wolfe landed in Paris, where she furnished the Petit Trianon in Versailles (the picture shows her sunroom in the Villa Trianon), which became her home during her time spent in France.
With so many decades separating us from De Wolfe's extravagences, the good news is that we can get a glimpse of her work and personality in a contemporary context right now! In fact, De Wolfe's work is part of a major exhibition that opened on September 23 at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein: Here We are! Women in Design 1900 - Today. Open until 6 March 2022, the exhibition collects works, photographic documentation and life stories of a hundred female designers, architects, stylists, who in the last 120 years have affirmed and strengthened the role of women's creativity in society and in the work field. Meanwhile, don't miss intOndo's selection of women designers in our Designers section!
