Curtain and Pelmet Set 1925 c. Maker: Fortuny (1919 – now)

60 Objects Rippon Lea Collection

Interior decorator, Mrs. Dolly Guy Smith, of the firm Myer & Rocke, refurbished Mrs. Louisa Jones home in the late 1930s.  When Mrs. Jones inherited Rippon Lea from her father she began to modernise.  The house reflects a Hollywood influence in the interior design, with many of the principle rooms being styled in a neo-baroque fashion, popular in Los Angeles at the time.

During a buying trip to Venice, Italy, Mrs. Guy Smith purchased fabric from the celebrated luxury textile makers Fortuny. She hung these hand-printed textiles in Mrs. Jones dining room, using the colour palette of the nineteenth century carpet as the basis for her scheme.

Spanish born designer Mariano Fortuny (1871 – 1949), is celebrated for his legacy of textile and garment designs. He opened his textile and couture house in 1908.  His fabric designs, although referencing classical and Renaissance motifs, were deemed incredibly progressive and innovative – the height of fashion.

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