WHEN: The Early Days at Dorothy Draper and Company, Inc.

At What’s New What’s Next 2011, Carleton Varney painted a vivid picture of life in Dorothy Draper’s New York offices in the mid-twentieth century:

“We worked in a large room with black walls and white desks – because Dorothy used to say that those were the only color surfaces you could really look at color against. Every day she would go through the design studio, desk by desk, talking to each designer about their work. And she would stand there, rolling her arms in front of her” – and here he gestured dramatically, with arms stretched long – “and she would declare, ‘Show me nothing that looks like gravy!’”

Image courtesy The Museum of the City of New York.