Cassandra Carter Presents John Fowler

"He was the prince of decorators, a scholar with a wonderful memory for whole rooms and the smallest details, and the biggest appreciator of beautiful things I have ever known."
--Duchess of Devonshire


John Fowler was born in the English countryside in 1906. He did not come from a wealthy or artistic family so many wonder how he became the man he was. He did not begin a career in design until after he went through many office jobs. After quitting his last job in London he moved out to the country to help his cousin on her farm. On a visit home he overheard his aunt telling his mother about an opening for a painter at Thornton Smith in London. He applied for the job and was hired. He began with Thornton Smith painting Chinese wallpaper that was made to look authentic and sold at a very high price. He continued his work there for some time until 1929 when business was slow due to the economic recession. It was at this time that John lost his job at Thornton Smith and began to work on his own.
His innate ability stood out in the 1930's as he developed a style known as the English country house. He worked for several years on his own until 1938 when he was asked to join decorator Sibyl Colefax. It was after the second world war the John really began to dominate English interior decoration. It was said of John that he "had an original eye, creating smart, unusual rooms that mixed countrified Georgian furniture, French painted pieces and the odd florid Victorian chair covered in voguish satin. From the start he was a genius at draperies."
During his career he worked on many prominent homes and also did the interiors for more than 20 National Trust properties such as Sudbury Hall, as well as private homes like Chequers and Buckingham Palace. Fowler knew historically accurate decoration but often altered the colors or added non-historic details. He would always begin a project by walking through it, noting the style and characteristics of the room, what it would be used for, and getting a feel for the character of the house as a whole. He would also observe the natural lighting and how it worked in a particular room, using this information to govern his color palette and types of fabrics he would choose.
After many years of successful design Fowler died a the age of 71 in 1977 and will always be remembered as the Prince of Decorators.

Introducing Mrs Eleanor Brown McMillen-Martha Rex

"There is nothing more trite than a set period-any

antique period brought intact for today's living."

Born Eleanor Stockstrom in St. Louis, Missouri in 1890. At 24, she married Dury McMillen, an engineer. They traveled extensively for 10 years and were later divorced. In 1934 she married the architect Archibald M. Brown. Between marriages, she took a three year course at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design). While there she became close to two people who taught there: the antiques expert William Odom, who first taught her to appreciate fine French furniture and was known as her silent partner, and the designer Grace Fakes whose flair for architectural detail was to account for much of Mrs. Brown's reputation. She so valued the education she received there that she served on it's board and for 40 years hired ONLY Parsons graduates. Considered a pioneer in her field, she built her reputation on her ability to combine great style with a keen sense of business. After attending Parsons she went to both business and secretarial school. "I thought it I was going to do it all, I'd better do it professionally," she once said. "That's why it's Mcmillen Inc. and not Eleanor McMillen. I wasn't one of the ladies." Instead of working from her living room, as so many decorators have done when starting out, she took $13,000 of her own money and opened an office in a town house on East 55th Street.

She also had a reputation as a genius at furniture arrangements.

For about 60 years she lived in a duplex apartment on East 57th Street that barely changed, "If you get it right the first time there's no need for change." And indeed, Mrs. Brown lived by her beliefs. Every 20 years of so pieces of furniture were reupholstered and the walls given a fresh coat of paint, but always in the same shade of pale yellow.

Her earliest work could be described as stripped-down Directoire. Later on she was one of the first decorators to use Italian 18th-century furniture. One person who remembers her style particularly well is the decorator Sister Parish. When Mrs. Parish married at 19 and had been decorating for all of a year, Mrs. Parish's mother gave the newlyweds a small house on Gracie Square. "It had been decorated from top to bottom by Mrs. Brown," Mrs. Parish recalls. I never forgave my mother." Nonetheless, Mrs. Parish said, she still had antiques Mrs. Brown bought for her.

She also had a talent for creating a look that was at once restrained and elegant. French furniture carefully mixed with modern pieces was one of her signatures.

Mrs. Brown went to her office every day until she was 85.

She died at 100 years old

in 1991 at her home in Manhattan.

Sources:

Architectural Digest, September 1999
The Finest Rooms By America's Great Decorators
New York Times

Introducing Alberto Pinto-Martha Rex

Alberto Pinto is among the most celebrated
interior designers at work today and is known
primarily for his highly creative use of color
and texture to achieve the effect of unparalleled opulance.

Borrowing from various cultural influences from his earliest childhood, Alberto Pinto, an inescapable actor of interior design, had built his works on the interbreeding and mixture of genders from more than baroque to less than bare.

After having attended the "Ecole de Louvre" in Paris, he created a photography agency in New York City specializing in decoration and interior design. It is during these shoots in Mexico, England, Italy and India that he acquired his taste for design, the sense of volumes and the game of colors. All these elements become decisive for the rest of his career.

Refusing to conceive narrow and closed universes, he naturally oriented himself towards "big projects". Used to rising to challenges which would scare others away, he particularly appreciated being given gigantic spaces in which he put together styles and very different periods in an always perfect harmony.

Strengthened by his experiences and always looking for new challenges, Alberto Pinto specialized himself in atypical places such as a large yachts or private jets.

The eclecticism of his projects and his insatiable quest for perfection and for refinement allowed him to discover the best international artisans with whom he regularly surrounds himself.

In entire confidentiality and the most total discretion, Alberto Pinto creates on all the continents private residences to offices or even palaces for the greats of this world. More over, his high-end clientele all agree he had brought interior design up to the status of "Haute Interior Design".

Today, Alberto Pinto is developing a home collection in collaboration with the best manufacturers. A new feather in his hat with allows him to distil one more time the added spirit he leaves behind as signature in all the domains he touches.


Photo Sources

Jen Giddens Introducing Mariette Himes-Gomez

Mariette Himes-Gomez grew up in Michigan, where she learned to value spaces that were comfortable places to share meals and conversation. She later married architect Raymond Gomez and attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the New York School of Interior Design.

Mariette Himes-Gomez started her career at Parish-Hadley before creating her own firm. She formed Gomez Associates in 1975 in New York City, and now there are about 20 employees on staff. Himes-Gomez also does furniture design for Hickory Chair.

Her design style has been described as "architectural and tailored and never fussy." She fovors a neutral color scheme, which is her trademark style, but is also equally capable of creating rooms full of color.