The Rise Of Design

A milestone in the history of interior design, Eighteenth Century Decoration provides a highly original and authoritative account of the appearance of rooms at all levels of society and how and why attitudes to decoration changed. Charles Saumarez Smith relates the changes in style and taste to broader aspects of the history of the period and quotes contemporary novelists and travellers to illustrate how interiors were described in their day. He examines the role of the architect traces the emergence of the professional designer, charts how various industries flourished and the skills of specialist craftsmen grew in response to fresh demands, and gives pioneering account of how and why women first began to take a special interest in decoration. The result is a comprehensive source book to anyone interested in eighteenth century culture.