Dorothy Draper Co. has designated NewStyle Digital: a West Palm Beach branding and advertising agency as their Agency of Record. NewStyle Digital will be working with Dorothy Draper Co. on a variety of sub-brands including Dorothy Draper Home, Carleton Varney, and Dorothy Draper Fabrics and Wall Coverings.
NewStyle Digital aims to integrate a breathe of fresh air into the brand’s digital assets, as well as maintaining the creative, luxurious and historic roots of Dorothy Draper and Carleton Varney.
About Dorothy Draper
Dorothy Draper has been called the original Martha Stewart. Not only did she start the first interior design company in the United States, she was a celebrity in her own right-her name was synonymous with all things interior design in the 1940s and 50s.
Draper was a glamorous woman with fine taste. She designed hotels, theaters, department stores, corporate offices and the homes of a lucky few who could afford her; she dreamed up the interiors of private jets, cars for Packard and Chrysler including a pink polka dot truck (a pattern she became known for), cosmetics packaging and her own line of exclusive fabrics. She published a book, “Entertaining is Fun! How to Be a Popular Hostess,” and gave decorating advice in a regular column that ran in Hearst Newspapers and Good Housekeeping Magazine, she even appeared on the cover of both Life and Time.
Her first big commission was to decorate the lobby of the Hotel Carlyle, where she began to hone the “Modern Baroque” style that she coined. The black and white-checkered floors became her signature, along with bright colors in unexpected combinations, ornate moldings and chintz printed with large cabbage roses. She also loved to paint the doors of buildings a bright red or greed encouraged others to do so in her columns. “”The color of your front door announces your personality to the world,” she said. Everything was dramatic, yet inviting, what some people called the “Draper touch.”
Draper continued her work on iconic spaces like the cafeteria at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which featured a nine foot tall birdcage chandelier. One of her last projects was the International Hotel at Idlewild Airport, which is now New York’s JFK. Draper passed away in 1969, and in 2006 she became the first interior designer to be honored with a retrospective exhibition of her work. The “The High Style of Dorothy Draper” at the Museum of the City of New York was a grand success, just like her projects, with hundreds of thousands of people coming to see her fabulous work.
About Carleton Varney
Carleton Varney (January 23, 1937 – July 14, 2022) was one of America’s best-known interior designers and president/owner of Dorothy Draper & Co. Inc., one of the oldest continually operating interior design firms in the United States. Named after the founder of the company- Dorothy Draper, who was the doyenne of interior design from the 1920s to the 1960s. The company’s design philosophy stresses the use of bright colors and the rejection of all that is impractical, uncomfortable and drab. In embracing this practice Carleton Varney continues the tradition of Dorothy Draper by being associated with the adventurous use of vibrant colors, floral patterns, and bold contrasts. Mr. Varney’s impressive roster of clients includes superstars from the worlds of entertainment, fashion, and business.
He is associated with the restoration and decoration of countless hotels and resorts in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and the United States. Among them: Dromoland and Ashford Castles and Adare Manor (Ireland), The Westbury Hotel (London and Brussels), The Colony Hotel, The Breakers, and The Brazilian Court (Palm Beach, Florida), The Waldorf Towers (New York City), The Copley Plaza (Boston, Massachusetts), The Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island, Michigan), The Greenbrier Hotel & Casino (White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia) and the Greenbrier West Village Resort (Japan). The Mount Washington Hotel (New Hampshire), The Stoneleigh Hotel (Dallas, Texas), Peter Island Resort Hotel (British Virgin Islands), Villa Madeleine (St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands), and for the Rock Resort Collection of Hotels including St. John’s Island (Virgin Gorda), Jackson Hole (Wyoming), and on Maui (Hawaii).
He decorated the Governor’s Mansions in West Virginia and Heartford, Connecticut, and was involved in the decoration of the U.S Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo, Japan and in Dublin, Ireland. He restored and redecorated the Official Vice President’s Residence in Washington D.C. during the George H.W. Bush administration, and was the color consultant for the Carter Presidential Library and the consultant for several functions, parties, and State Dinners for visiting dignitaries at the White House during the Carter administration. He also redesigned and decorated the Carter residences in Plains and Ellijay, Georgia.
