HISTORY OF INTERIOR DESIGN

Stone Age 6000 to 2000 BC

The first sign of an approach to interior design was noted in prehistoric

dwellings featuring flora and fauna. Those dwellings were made of mud,
animal skins, and sticks.

Neolithic Europe 2000 to 1700 BC

In comes the first defined handmade pottery that was used for both practical
and decorative reasons.

Ancient Egypt 2700

The rise of royal families saw for the first time people living in structures
besides mud huts. The new structures boasted murals that portrayed their
history and beliefs. And they had basic furnishings and decorative objects like
vases and sculptures – seen for the first time.

Greek Empire 1200 to 31 BC

Advancements in civilization and lifestyles saw citizens decorating their

homes in their own unique style for the first time ever with wealthier Greeks
possessing furnishings inlaid with ornate ivory and silver details. Iconic and
statement-making pillars and columns were key motifs during this era and the
Greeks also created standard rules and procedures for building construction.

Roman Empire 753 BC to 480 AD

An austere age when royals weren’t able to evoke their wealth simply through
their homes. The Romans decorated their homes with murals and mosaics,
and furnishings featured clawed feet.

The Dark Ages 900 to 1500

The Dark Ages saw disinterest in interior design with people opting for simple
paneled wood walls, minimal furnishings, and stone slab floors.

The Byzantine Empire 500 to 1500

During this period grande domes and decadent décor took center stage.
The Renaissance Period 1400 to 1600

The beauty of interior design was a major feature during the Renaissance
period with grand furnishings and art realized in vibrant hues and luxurious
textiles like silk and velvet along with marble surfaces. And since carpets were
too precious and expensive for even the wealthiest of patrons, they were used
as wall art when possible.

Gothic 1140 to 1400

In response to the dark ages, decorative ornamentation and bold colors were
once again prominent interior design features. Two hallmarks of the era
carried over through to today are more windows for brighter homes along with
open floor plans.

Baroque 1590 to 1725

Ostentatious and ultra-rich artistic elements made for a recipe of sumptuous

interior designs featuring stained glass, twisted columns, colored marble,
painted ceilings, and gilt mirrors and oversized chandeliers.

Traditional 1700 to Today

Embodied by a formal spirit, traditional interior design is still a mainstay to this

day. Traditional interior design is a broad term that highlighting varied design
styles and movement’s that aren’t nailed down to one locked direction or spirit.

Traditional design celebrates the illustrious, rich history of the past by

contrasting it with decidedly modern elements for an elegant spin on beautiful
design while highlighting 18th and 19th-century European decor. It’s a
timeless design style that evokes easy glamor and comfort and is a great
direction for those who appreciate antiques, classic art, symmetry, and design
rich with history.

Rococo 1700

A hyper elegant and lavishly detailed design style taking cues from botanical
silhouettes, Rococo interior design featured unique elements like tortoise shell
and pearl embellishments alongside Asian porcelain.

The Industrial Revolution 1760 to 1820

Throughout the Industrial Revolution interior design was available for a wider
audience and was easier to access for the general population than ever
before. This is in large part due to easier printing processes creating a wide
distribution of fashion and lifestyle publications and the fact that luxury items
became increasingly attainable.

Neoclassical Style 1780 to 1880

Taking inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman cultures for architectural
details and motifs, this era saw furnishings rely heavily on the use of bronze
and gold metals, and soft furnishings featuring silk, velvet, and satin. The
trend of matching wallpaper and furnishings also took hold.

Tropical 1880’s to Today

As the British empire swept through countries like India and territories like the
West Indies, they combined interior design elements from their home country
and the regions they were occupying to create a heady mix of the traditional
and the extoic.
Aesthetic Movement 1800’s to Today

With ‘art for art’s sake’ in mind, the Aesthetic Movement was a way for
radicals to express their dislike of current, tired interior design. The key here
was in practicality and function taking importance before beauty.

Tuscan 1840’s to Today

Taking a cue from the charming and calming nature of Tuscany in Italy, the
focus of interior design during this period was of straightforward simplicity with
hints of luxury for good measure.

Arts & Crafts 1860 to 1910

In order to highlight their opposition to mass-produced ordinary items due to

the innovations of the Industrial Revolution, people turned to traditional crafts
and classic elements to produce furnishings.

Rustic 1870’s to Today

Rustic interior design features handmade furnishings and large, open rooms
boasting wooden beams and columns.

Rustic decor provides the perfect combination of comforting, fuss-free design

and practical, functional decor, put together to create a warm rustic interior.
Natural materials work as the foundation and starting point for creating
enviable rustic home decor celebrating the authentic beauty of natural
materials to create a cozy, beautiful space.

Modernism 1880 – 1940

The modernist movement stressed simplicity, clarity of form, and rejected
noise in design. Some of the movement’s leading figures in include Mies van
der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Eero Saarinen, whose signatures seen in his
forever popular Saarinen table and Saarinen chair are the epitome of the
design style.

Art Nouveau 1890 to 1920

The enthusiasm behind the Art Nouveau movement was in bringing in natural
silhouettes derived by botanical elements that lent the era its signature curved
lines and organic shapes.

Colonial Revival 1905 to Today

Popular in the U.S and spurred by the centennial, the Colonial Revival found
inspiration from the Neoclassical and Georgian historical styles. By far the
most popular style of the time up til WWII, some believe that the launch of the
automobile helped to spark people’s interest in historical references as they
were able to freely visit documented landmarks.

Eclectic 1900’s to Today

Some historians point to the rise of needing interior designers who understood
how to mix different design styles with authority for the sharp increase of
designers in the industry as eclectic style took over aesthetic inspiration.

Eclectic style is all about harmony and the coming together of disparate
styles, juxtaposing textures, and contrasting colors to create a cohesive,
beautifully realized room that wouldn’t be out of place in a home décor
magazine as this is one design style that takes verve and a great eye. And
since eclectic interior design is all about experimentation and play, do have
fun with the freedom it allows.
Modern 1918 to 1950

With a focus on sparse interiors and bold primary colors, Modern interior
design eschewed the typically ornate and over decorated design aesthetic
trending at the time.

Bauhaus 1920 – 1934

Celebrated to this day for its grand yet minimal and beautifully executed
gestures, and founded by German architect Walter Bauhaus, who also
created the Bauhaus school of art and design in Weimar Germany, the
movement quickly produced some of the most influential architects, sculptors,
graphic designers, furniture makers, and design mavericks of the mid to late
20th century.

Country 1920 to 1970

With notes lifted from traditional farmhouse settings, country style was
practical but with quality, vintage inspired furnishings.

Today’s take on the modern country style of interior design is an idyllic classic.

Stepping away from a purely traditional country design style; modern country
allows for more playful and nuanced aspects along with minimal notes.

Art Deco 1920’s to 1960

This movement features an intoxicating blend of early 20th century design
styles including Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau,
and Futurism. One of the most well-known interior design styles, Art
Deco represented modernity, everyday glamor, and elegance.  The era relied
heavily on clean lines, fuss-free angular shapes, bold color, and stylized
patterns like zig-zags and optical figures. For added glamor, ornate
embellishments and metallic surfaces were also hallmarks of the era.

Materials used in art deco interior design are slick and reflective for everyday
glamor in the home. Plenty of metallics are present in this style; from gold to
silver, stainless steel, and chrome. They lend any room an elegant and
luxurious feel, and they can be used everywhere. Imagine a modern art deco
living room with a glass topped gold coffee table, chrome lamps, and a bold
geometric patterned rug in black, gold, and white. Glass is also a frequently
used material in art deco design; whether that’s through mirrors, glass-topped
tables, sculptural elements or an art deco vase or lamp, as glass adds to the
elegant feel of an art deco room.

Mediterranean 1920’s to Today

To evoke the feel of coastal European countries, textures from terra cotta,
stone, and patterned tiles were heavily featured along with wrought iron, and
aquatic hues.

Surrealism 1925 to 1930

Surrealists like famous artists included Salvador Dali, André Breton, and Max
Ernst used this avant-garde movement to free people from their associations
of what was normal and ultimately predictable in design, music, art, and even
interior design.

Mid-Century Modern 1930’s to Today

Though the term mid century modern wasn’t coined until the mid-80’s, and
though no one really knows it’s true timeline, the era represents a combination
of post World War II practicality, 50’s era optimism, 60’s era earthiness, and
70’s era tones and textures neatly wrapped up in a stylish ode to
Scandinavian simplicity.

Call it a reaction to the decadence and gilt adorned stuffiness of interior

design and architecture through to the 40’s if you will, as at the time of its
inception, mid century modern decor was a complete rebuttal and restart for
the senses.

The vibe is fresh and poppy, retro-tinged, and completely alluring with its
dedication to comfort and practicality wrapped up in beautiful design that
never goes out of style. Unlike other aesthetic movements, mid century
modern decor is streamlined in design, as form follows function while
highlighting the materials used, rather than making them something they
aren’t.

Scandinavian Modern 1930’s to Today

This movement highlights the virtues of beautiful designed, practical objects
that are both easily affordable and accessible, which is why the movement
remains popular to this day.

Belonging to the school of modernism, Scandinavian interior design is a

design movement characterized by a focus on functionalism and simplicity. It
also includes the use of natural materials, such as leather, wood, and hemp.
Furthermore, a Scandinavian interior design is often influenced by a
connection to nature, which combines natural shapes, abstraction, and the
use of natural elements.  

Transitional 1950’s to Today

With the invention of the television and its prominence throughout most
homes across the U.S, the interior design of sets helped feed the masses
appetite for décor more than ever.

Transitional style refers to a mix of traditional and modern furnishings,

fabrications, and decorative features that lend you more freedom when
looking to decorate your home with ease as there’s no end to the directions
you can take the design style. In essence, transitional interior design is the
combination of various design styles brought together simultaneously to
create a cohesive design in one room.

Postmodernism 1978 – Today

This movement born as a challenge to what people saw to be the generic

blandness of the Modernist movement. One of its main figures was Italian
architect and designer Ettore Sottsass, with his signature playful shapes,
abstract prints, and powerful color stories.
Contemporary 1980’s to Today

Contemporary interior design is classic yet thoroughly of the moment and

timeless thanks to a light-handed, spare take on decorating to ensure it will
never feel dated.

While modern decor can feel cold, limiting, and overtly minimal, contemporary
style is calming and serene, and is peppered with a focus on architectural
elements, decorative details, attention to bold scales, and a concise color
palette to create a warm space with easy sophistication.

Simplicity, clean lines, plays on texture, and quiet drama are fundamental in
achieving a perfectly balanced contemporary style home.

ELSIE DE WOLFE

Heralded as “America’s first interior decorator,” Elsie de Wolfe’s life was as

opulent as the rooms she decorated, as she’s pictured above in Elsa
Schiaparelli’s iconic gilded starburst haute couture coat. The legendary de
Wolfe boasts a biography that’s equally wildly romantic and adventurous. After
being educated in Scotland and presented at the court of Queen Victoria, she
returned to the U.S. and became an actress where she shared a unique
“Boston marriage” (a term for two single women living together from Henry
James’s The Bostonians) with successful literary agent and lover Elisabeth
Marbury.

Her onstage style and costumes—couture garb from Paris—made her an

influential tastemaker among spectators in her audience, leading her to
become known as the best-dressed woman in the world. Her first foray into
interior design was a total eschewing of the dark and brooding Victorian décor
in the home she and Marbury shared. After she successfully restyled their
residence by decluttering, simplifying, and minimizing its heavily ornamented
interior, she became the first interior decorator to be given a design
commission.

That commission was to decorate New York City’s first elite social club for
women, the famed Colony Club—boasting a slew of notable members with
surnames including the likes of Whitney, Morgan, Harriman, and Astor. De
Wolfe soon became the most popular interior decorator of her time, and in
1913, she published the first interior design book, “The House in Good Taste.”

She celebrated the unexpected by mixing animal prints with Chinoiserie, had
an affinity for Regency and Chippendale styles as well as black-and-white
color schemes, and was a pioneer of representing the color beige in décor.

Her most notable projects include the homes of Condé Nast, the Fricks, and
the Hewitts. Her anti-Victorian stance and brighter, airier, and less
complicated and more minimally minded, refined rooms remains popular to
this day.

JEAN-MICHEL FRANK
It should come as no surprise that artists routinely find inspiration from the
world around them, and it’s easy to imagine the heady effect of 1930’s Paris
on the most celebrated decorator and interior designer of the era, Jean-Michel
Frank. Lucky for him, his projects were often centered around placing
Picassos and Braques throughout the spaces he decorated, and his crew of
influential friends included everyone from Left-Bank Parisian artists like Man
Ray and socialites such as the Rockefellers.

Considered a minimalist with a rich bent, his layering of divine maximalism

makes his work all the more intriguing and inspiring. As a furniture designer,
his silhouettes were pared down and subtle and finished with luxurious details.
Think intricate mica screens, bronze doors, accessories made of quartz, and
the series of shagreen-covered furnishings and sheepskin club chairs he
designed for fabled luxury goods maker Hermès. White was a go-to signature
shade of his, which he at the same time made look both spare and complex.
Frank is also credited with designing one of the most iconic minimalist pieces
of furniture in history—the Parsons table—which he would frequently cover
with the most luxurious of finishes.

Along with a studied eye for great design and an instinct for the best of quality,
Frank took in elements of daily life to make a space feel more approachable,
inviting, and realistic. Today his work continues to be celebrated in museums,
his furnishings create record-breaking auctions, and you can even buy
reproductions of his most iconic pieces designed for Hermès.

SISTER PARISH
Known for her shrewd take on indulgent taste, Sister Parish is credited with
creating the American Country look, one of the most enduring design styles of
the last half-century. Born into privilege and pedigree, Parish’s American
Country look was realized from her take on English Country, albeit with more
warmth, character, and a homespun and charming appeal.

She began her career as an untrained housewife who decorated her home
with much fanfare. Having caught the eye of fellow high-society housewives
commissioning her to restyle their own homes, Hadley took note of the need
for affordable design during the Great Depression and billed herself as a
“budget decorator” for those looking to refresh their homes during the
challenging economic times of the era.

Her decorative style was a total rejection of her father’s collection of heavy,
dark antiques as she leaned more towards feminine ticking stripes, glazed
chintz, quilts, hooked rugs, and informal overstuffed armchairs while
incorporating elements from the past.

“Innovation is often the ability to reach into the past and bring back what is
good, what is beautiful, what is useful, what is lasting.”

Her designs were romantic, warm, and elegant for clients such as Brooke
Astor, yet she was known for her caustic, intimidating figure and unforgiving
assessments of her client’s spaces.

Parish’s design firm saw many influential designers make a name for
themselves beside her including the legendary Albert Hadley, who she worked
alongside for some 30-plus years—their professional relationship is often
thought to be one of the most successful collaborative partnerships in the
world of interiors to this day.
ALBERT HADLEY

Credited as the father of transitional interior design, celebrated for his

masterful pairing of glamor and functionality, and often referred to as the “the
dean of American decorators,” Albert Hadley’s project portfolio boasted high
society names like Rockefeller, Astor, Getty, and Mellon.

However, for Hadley, high-profile names never took place over brilliant design.
“Names really are not the point,” he told New York magazine in 2004. “It’s
what you can achieve for the simplest person. Glamour is part of it, but
glamour is not the essence. Design is about discipline and reality, not about
fantasy beyond reality.”

Born in Tennessee, Hadley moved to New York City after serving in WWII
where he studied and taught at Parson’s School of Design and became
known for his modern-minded décor style and his instinctual sense of balance
and what worked together. He skillfully created heady mixes of design styles
with a mantra centered around the idea of “never less, never more.”

Looking for a partner of sorts with more technical talent rather than the instinct
that defined her career, Sister Parish brought Hadley on her team in 1962.
Parish-Hadley Associates restyled the homes of America’s elite families for
decades and is best known for redecorating the living quarters of the Kennedy
White House, as well as the Kennedy family’s private homes. After Parish’s
passing Hadley continued to work well past his mid-80’s on projects that
incorporated an interesting mix of design styles unlike any other designer of
his generation.

DOROTHY DRAPER
Long heralded as the Coco Chanel of the decorating world, Dorthy Draper’s
designs were fearlessly vibrant, sumptuous, joyful, and full of personality. The
rooms she designed had either a restrained color palette of classic black and
white, while others highlighted oversized graphic patterns and her punchy
Technicolor combinations of pinks and greens, turquoise, and citrus hues. A
cousin of Sister parish, Draper was the first documented commercial interior
decorator, having established the first official interior design firm, Architectural
Clearing House, in 1923.

“Almost everyone believes that there is something deep and mysterious about
[interior decoration] or that you have to know all sorts of complicated details
about periods before you can lift a finger. Well, you don’t. Decorating is just
sheer fun: a delight in color, an awareness of balance, a feeling for lighting, a
sense of style, a zest for life, and an amused enjoyment of the smart
accessories of the moment,” she wrote in her 1939 book Decorating Is Fun!

Named the most influential tastemaker in America in 1960, Draper lent her
legendary signature “modern Baroque” style to several iconic buildings
including the dining hall at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Fairmont and Mark Hopkins hotels in San Francisco, and, most impressively,
a complete overhaul of the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia – which still
looks au currant 70-plus years later.

DAVID HICKS
Originally a freelance advertising illustrator in London, David Hicks decorating
career took off after a magazine covered the game-changing makeover he did
on his parent’s home.

Hicks broke the mold and went against traditionally stuffy and pretentious
English decorating practices and went on to become a master of unexpected
yet cohesive mixes. His eclectic interiors often featured a distinct juxtaposition
of riotous colors, patterns, fabrications, and design styles that were alluring
and impressive feats.

A design world darling by the 1960’s, his most notable projects included
rooms for Prince Charles and Princess Anne and a sparkling nightclub on
an ocean liner and yacht for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. In the 1970’s, Hicks
began producing signature wallpaper, fabrics, and linens for his design
boutiques spread across eight countries.

BILLY BALDWIN
Though he was celebrated for his comprehensive approach to interior design,
Billy Baldwin detested the term “interior designer,” opting to be referred to as a
“decorator,” his preferred title. He believed a rooms good bones to be a top
tenet along with quality and comfort being key.

“I’ve always believed that architecture is more important than decoration.

Scale and proportion give everlasting satisfaction that cannot be achieved by
only icing the cake,” he famously said.

His interiors were crisp and flawless, and unlike his contemporaries, he
worked with client’s existing furnishings and repurposed them with an
instinctual drive. From a remarkable refresh of Cole Porter’s Waldorf Towers
apartment to Jackie O’s Skorpios compound, to Diana Vreeland’s richly
layered red Park Avenue living room, meticulous attention to scale and
proportion were a driving force for Baldwin. A master of practical decoration
punctuated with bold hues, prints, and well-judged curation, a survey of
Baldwin’s work demonstrates how relevant his work remains to this day.

https://www.decoraid.com/blog/interior-design-history/

Culture design is a multidisciplinary design approach; encompassing service design, experience

design, interaction design, process design, organizational design, systems design, and
transformation design. Effective culture design improves organizational performance by 227%,
which can make the difference between surviving and thriving. Especially, during times of
disruptive change. Whether you’re building a new company, innovating customer and employee
experiences, undergoing a transformation, or managing community engagement initiatives, your
culture will determine your success.

Culture evolves whether you want it to or not. To ensure success, design with intention
and evolve with purpose.

https://culturedesign.com/#:~:text=Culture%20design%20is%20a%20multidisciplinary,systems
%20design%2C%20and%20transformation%20design.&text=Culture%20evolves%20whether
%20you%20want,intention%20and%20evolve%20with%20purpose .

Design history is the study of objects of design in their historical and stylistic contexts.
With a broad definition, the contexts of design history include the social, the cultural, the economic,
the political, the technical and the aesthetic. Design history has as its objects of study all designed
objects including those of architecture, fashion, crafts, interiors, textiles, graphic design, industrial
design and product design.
Design history has had to incorporate criticism of the 'heroic' structure of its discipline, in response to
the establishment of material culture, much as art history has had to respond to visual culture,
(although visual culture has been able to broaden the subject area of art history through the
incorporation of the televisual, film and new media). Design history has done this by shifting its focus
towards the acts of production and consumption.
Design history as a component of British practice-based courses
Design history also exists as a component of many practice-based courses.
The teaching and study of design history within art and design programs in Britain are one of the
results of the National Advisory Council on Art Education in the 1960s. Among its aims was making
art and design education a legitimate academic activity, to which ends a historical perspective was
introduced. This necessitated the employment or 'buying in' of specialists from art history disciplines,
leading to a particular style of delivery: "Art historians taught in the only way that art historians knew
how to teach; they switched off the lights, turned on the slide projector, showed slides of art and
design objects, discussed and evaluated them and asked (art and design) students to write essays –
according to the scholarly conventions of academia". [1]
The most obvious effect of the traditional approach design history as sequential, in which X begat Y
and Y begat Z. This has pedagogical implications in that the realization that assessment requires a
fact-based regurgitation of received knowledge leads students to ignore discussions of the situations
surrounding a design's creation and reception and to focus instead on simple facts such as who
designed what and when.
This 'heroic/aesthetic' view – the idea that there are a few great designers who should be studied
and revered unquestioningly – arguably instills an unrealistic view of the design profession. Although
the design industry has been complicit in promoting the heroic view of history, the establishment of
the UK government of Creative & Cultural Skills has led to calls for design courses to be made less
'academic' and more attuned to the 'needs' of the industry. Design history, as a component of design
courses, is under increasing threat in the UK at least and it has been argued that its survival
depends on an increased focus on the study of the processes and effects of design rather than the
lives of designers themselves.
Ultimately it appears that design history for practice-based courses is rapidly becoming a branch of
social and cultural studies, leaving behind its art historical roots. This has led to a great deal of
debate as the two approaches forge distinct pedagogical approaches and philosophies.

Debates over the merits of different approaches to teaching design

history on practice-based course
The debate over the best way to approach the teaching of design history to practice-based students
is often heated, but it is notable that the biggest push to adopt a 'realistic' approach (i.e. non-hero-
based, analysing the production and consumption of design that would otherwise be viewed as
ephemeral) comes from teachers delivering these programmes, while critics are predominantly those
who teach 'pure' design history courses.
The biggest criticism of the 'realistic' approach appears to be that it imposes anonymity on
designers, while the counter argument is that the vast majority of designers are anonymous and that
it is the uses and users of design that are more important.
The research literature suggests that, contrary to critics' predictions of the death of design history,
this realistic approach is beneficial. Baldwin and McLean at the University of Brighton (now at the
University of Dundee and Edinburgh College of Art respectively) reported attendance figures for
courses using this model rising dramatically, [2] and improved interest in the subject, as did Rain at
Central St. Martin's. This compares with the often-reported low attendance and low grades of
practice-based students facing the 'death by slideshow' model.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_history