Synopses & Reviews
This chronologically arranged set of case studies looks at how interior design has constantly redefined itself as a manifestation of culture, from the eighteenth-century to the present day. The book looks at the amateur activities of female "home makers" in search of creative outlets and married couples seeking to modernize their homes as well as the contributions of early professional (female) "interior decorators," and later, (male) "interior designers." It also considers the more anonymous role of commercial enterprises, such as hairdressing salons, cruise ships or modern offices. Issues relating to interiority, gender, and the relationship of the public sphere are also considered opening up a new level of design historical enquiry.
About the Author
Susie McKellar is Researcher at the Royal College of Art.
Penny Sparke is Professor of Design History, and Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Music, at Kingston University.
Table of Contents
Introduction--Penny Sparke * Women's creativity and display in the eighteenth-century British interior--Katherine Sharpe * Comfort and gentility: Furnishings by Gillows, Lancaster, 1840-1855--Amanda Girling-Budd * A semblance of home: Mental asylum interiors, 1880-1914--Mary Guyatt * The domestic interior and the construction of self: The New York homes of Elsie de Wolfe--Penny Sparke * Chintz, swags and bows: The myth of English country house style, 1930-1990--Louise Ward * The role of the interior in constructing notions of class and status: A case-study of Brittania Royal Naval College Dartmouth, 1905-1939--Quintin Colville * Feminine spaces, modern experiences: The design and display strategies of British hairdressing salons in the 1920s and 1930s--Emma Gieben-Gamal * Pragmatism and pluralism: The interior decoration of the 'Queen Mary'--Fiona Walmesley * 'Constructing contemporary': Common-sense approaches to 'going modern' in the 1950s--Scott Oram * After modernism: The contemporary office environment--Jeremy Myerson * Bibliography * Index