(
Slovakia) In the past, interiors were put together instinctively as a part of the process of building. The profession of interior design has been a consequence of the development of society and the complex
architecture that has resulted from the development of industrial processes. The pursuit of effective use of space, user well-being and functional design has contributed to the development of the contemporary interior design profession. The profession of interior design is separate and distinct from the role of
interior decorator, a term commonly used in the US; the term is less common in the UK, where the profession of interior design is still unregulated and therefore, strictly speaking, not yet officially a profession. In ancient India, architects would also function as interior designers. This can be seen from the references of
Vishwakarma the architect—one of the gods in Indian mythology. In these architects' design of 17th-century Indian homes, sculptures depicting ancient texts and events are seen inside the palaces, while during the medieval times wall art paintings were a common feature of palace-like mansions in India commonly known as havelis. While most traditional homes have been demolished to make way to modern buildings, there are still around 2000 havelis in the
Shekhawati region of Rajasthan that
display wall art paintings. In ancient Egypt, "soul houses" (or models of houses) were placed in tombs as receptacles for food offerings. From these, it is possible to discern details about the interior design of different residences throughout the different Egyptian dynasties, such as changes in ventilation, porticoes, columns, loggias, windows, and doors. or dining room, with three
klinai or couches Painting interior walls has existed for at least 5,000 years, with examples found as far north as the
Ness of Brodgar, as have templated interiors, as seen in the associated
Skara Brae settlement. It was the Greeks, and later Romans who added co-ordinated, decorative
mosaics floors, and templated
bath houses, shops, civil offices,
Castra (forts) and
temple, interiors, in the first millennia BC. With specialised guilds dedicated to producing interior decoration, and formulaic furniture, in buildings constructed to forms defined by Roman architects, such as
Vitruvius:
De architectura, libri decem (The Ten Books on Architecture). Throughout the 17th and 18th century and into the early 19th century, interior decoration was the concern of the homemaker, or an employed
upholsterer or craftsman who would advise on the artistic style for an interior space. Architects would also employ craftsmen or artisans to complete interior design for their buildings.
Commercial interior design and management In the mid-to-late 19th century, interior design services expanded greatly, as the
middle class in
industrial countries grew in size and prosperity and began to desire the domestic trappings of wealth to cement their new status. Large
furniture firms began to branch out into general interior design and management, offering full house furnishings in a variety of styles. This business model flourished from the mid-century to 1914, when this role was increasingly usurped by independent, often
amateur, designers. This paved the way for the emergence of the professional interior design in the mid-20th century. , published in 1876 In the 1950s and 1960s, upholsterers began to expand their business remits. They framed their business more broadly and in artistic terms and began to advertise their furnishings to the public. To meet the growing demand for contract interior work on projects such as
offices,
hotels, and
public buildings, these businesses became much larger and more complex, employing builders, joiners, plasterers, textile designers, artists, and furniture designers, as well as engineers and technicians to fulfil the job. Firms began to publish and circulate
catalogs with prints for different lavish styles to attract the attention of expanding middle classes. This type of firm emerged in America after the
Civil War. The
Herter Brothers, founded by two German émigré brothers, began as an
upholstery warehouse and became one of the first firms of furniture makers and
interior decorators. With their own design office and cabinet-making and upholstery workshops, Herter Brothers were prepared to accomplish every aspect of interior furnishing including decorative paneling and mantels, wall and ceiling decoration, patterned floors, and carpets and draperies. A pivotal figure in popularizing theories of interior design to the middle class was the architect
Owen Jones, one of the most influential design theorists of the nineteenth century. Jones' first project was his most important—in 1851, he was responsible for not only the decoration of
Joseph Paxton's gigantic
Crystal Palace for the
Great Exhibition but also the arrangement of the exhibits within. He chose a controversial
palette of red, yellow, and blue for the interior ironwork and, despite initial negative publicity in the newspapers, was eventually unveiled by
Queen Victoria to much critical acclaim. His most significant publication was
The Grammar of Ornament (1856), in which Jones formulated 37 key principles of interior design and decoration. Jones was employed by some of the leading interior design firms of the day; in the 1860s, he worked in collaboration with the London firm Jackson & Graham to produce furniture and other fittings for high-profile clients including art collector
Alfred Morrison as well as
Ismail Pasha,
Khedive of Egypt. In 1882, the
London Directory of the
Post Office listed 80 interior decorators. Some of the most distinguished companies of the period were
Crace, Waring & Gillowm and Holland & Sons; famous decorators employed by these firms included
Thomas Edward Collcutt,
Edward William Godwin,
Charles Barry,
Gottfried Semper, and
George Edmund Street.
Transition to professional interior design , President of the Institute of British Decorators, established in 1899. By the turn of the 20th century, amateur advisors and publications were increasingly challenging the monopoly that the large retail companies had on interior design. English
feminist author
Mary Haweis wrote a series of widely read essays in the 1880s in which she derided the eagerness with which aspiring middle-class people furnished their houses according to the rigid models offered to them by the retailers. She advocated the individual adoption of a particular style, tailor-made to the individual needs and preferences of the customer:One of my strongest convictions, and one of the first canons of good taste, is that our houses, like the fish's shell and the bird's nest, ought to represent our individual taste and habits. : The move toward decoration as a separate artistic profession, unrelated to the manufacturers and retailers, received an impetus with the 1899 formation of the Institute of British Decorators; with
John Dibblee Crace as its president, it represented almost 200 decorators around the country. By 1915, the London Directory listed 127 individuals trading as interior decorators, of which 10 were women.
Rhoda Garrett and
Agnes Garrett were the first women to train professionally as home decorators in 1874. The importance of their work on design was regarded at the time as on a par with that of
William Morris. In 1876, their work –
Suggestions for House Decoration in Painting, Woodwork and Furniture – spread their ideas on artistic interior design to a wide middle-class audience. By 1900, the situation was described by
The Illustrated Carpenter and Builder:Until recently when a man wanted to furnish he would visit all the dealers and select piece by piece of furniture ....Today he sends for a dealer in art furnishings and fittings who surveys all the rooms in the house and he brings his artistic mind to bear on the subject.In America,
Candace Wheeler was one of the first woman
interior designers and helped encourage a new style of American design. She was instrumental in the development of art courses for women in a number of major American cities and was considered a national authority on home design. An important influence on the new profession was
The Decoration of Houses, a manual of interior design written by
Edith Wharton with architect
Ogden Codman in 1897 in America. In the book, the authors denounced Victorian-style
interior decoration and interior design, especially those rooms that were decorated with heavy window curtains,
Victorian bric-a-brac, and overstuffed furniture. They argued that such rooms emphasized upholstery at the expense of proper space planning and architectural design and were, therefore, uncomfortable and rarely used. The book is considered a seminal work, and its success led to the emergence of professional decorators working in the manner advocated by its authors, most notably
Elsie de Wolfe. , taken from
The House in Good Taste, 1913
Elsie De Wolfe was one of the first interior designers. Rejecting the Victorian style she grew up with, she chose a more vibrant scheme, along with more comfortable furniture in the home. Her designs were light, with fresh colors and delicate
Chinoiserie furnishings, as opposed to the Victorian preference of heavy, red drapes and upholstery, dark wood and intensely patterned wallpapers. Her designs were also more practical; she eliminated the clutter that occupied the Victorian home, enabling people to entertain more guests comfortably. In 1905, de Wolfe was commissioned for the interior design of the
Colony Club on
Madison Avenue; its interiors garnered her recognition almost over night. She compiled her ideas into her widely read 1913 book,
The House in Good Taste. In England,
Syrie Maugham became a legendary interior designer credited with designing the first all-white room. Starting her career in the early 1910s, her international reputation soon grew; she later expanded her business to
New York City and
Chicago. Born during the
Victorian Era, a time characterized by dark colors and small spaces, she instead designed rooms filled with light and furnished in multiple shades of white and mirrored screens. In addition to mirrored screens, her trademark pieces included: books covered in white vellum, cutlery with white porcelain handles, console tables with plaster palm-frond, shell, or dolphin bases, upholstered and fringed sleigh beds, fur carpets, dining chairs covered in white leather, and lamps of graduated glass balls, and wreaths.
Expansion The interior design profession became more established after
World War II. From the 1950s onwards, spending on the home increased. Interior design courses were established, requiring the publication of textbooks and reference sources. Historical accounts of interior designers and firms distinct from the decorative arts specialists were made available. Organisations to regulate education, qualifications, standards and practices, etc. were established for the profession. governed various areas of design. It was not until later that specific representation for the interior design profession was developed. The US National Society of Interior Designers was established in 1957, while in the UK the Interior Decorators and Designers Association was established in 1966. Across Europe, other organisations such as The Finnish Association of Interior Architects (1949) were being established and in 1994 the International Interior Design Association was founded. Ellen Mazur Thomson, author of
Origins of Graphic Design in America (1997), determined that professional status is achieved through education, self-imposed standards and professional gate-keeping organizations. Having achieved this, interior design became an accepted profession. ==Interior decorators and interior designers==