Did you know interior design has been around as long as humans?

Cave men and women decorated the walls of their refuge to document their life and add beauty. Early pottery had handmade designs intricately carved on the surface purely for aesthetic reasons. Native American families created elaborate, colorful clothing and teepees to show their heritage. Decorative wallpaper can even be traced as far back as the early 1500’s. Beauty and design in our surroundings has always mattered.

Interior design has been an occupation for over one hundred years. This may not seem like such a long time in the grand scheme of things, but just think… humanity realized the value of curating the spaces we live in. Elsie de Wolfe, an American actress also known as Lady Mendl, is credited with being the first professional interior designer obtaining her first commission in 1905. Lady Mendl was an accomplished and prolific designer. Her clients included rich American aristocrats, British royalty and even popular social clubs in New York. She deeply despised the heavy, ornate Victorian style and tried to banish it from all interiors replacing the popular style with light, intimate spaces featuring fresh, airy colors. Elsie de Wolfe is quoted as saying, “I am going to make everything around me beautiful -     that will be my life.”

As designers, living by the credo of making everything beautiful would be a dream! Designers today not only make spaces beautiful but also functional. The occupation has rapidly evolved over the years from simply changing the colors of a room to rethinking how we use our space at home and at work. The timeline of evolution of the career in design is simply amazing:

•    Parsons University (formerly known as the New York School of Applied and Fine Arts) first offered courses in interior decoration in 1905.

•    Dorothy Draper is recognized in 1925 as being the first woman decorator to specialize in commercial interiors.

•    The United States formally recognizes design as important with the formation of the American Institute of Interior Decorators (AIID) in 1931.

•    In 1957, a splinter group in New York creates the National Society for Interior Designers (NSID).

•    From 1962 to 1975, many more groups combined, collaborated and formed making the world of interior design a massive force for careers.

•    Alabama becomes the first state to title registration legislation for Interior Design in 1982.

•    1992 brought the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) which identified accessibility standards for all public buildings.

•    And in 1994, design associations around the world unified with the intent to create an international association with a united mission that would represent interior designers worldwide.

The amount of progress that occurred from 1900 to today in the field of interior design is astounding. Designers have become the standard by which building and aesthetics are defined, invented and upheld. Without designers our world would be a drab and possibly less functional world.

“You will express yourself in your house whether you want to or not.” -Elsie de Wolfe

How do you want to express yourself? Let our group of interior design professionals make your home and office space the statement you want to make to the world.

Stylishly yours,

The Chelsee Sowder Design Team

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