The partnership between Sister Parish and Albert Hadley influenced American design for more than three decades, and the office was a training ground for dozens of designers, who lead the field in their own right today. The firm was known for the low-keyed handsomeness of their work and for their well-heeled clientele. It included President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy; the philanthropists Brooke Astor and Enid Annenberg Haupt; William S. Paley, the chairman of CBS, and members of the Bronfman, Getty, Mellon, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Whitney clans. Albert Hadley described Sister Parish as a total romantic. “Her work was enormously pretty and feminine with a great sense of style, luxury and comfort,” he said. “I suppose mine is a bit more edited and architerctural. I’m more of a minimalist than she was.” Together they formed what many consider the most iconic interior design firm in America at that time.
SISTER PARISH
Mrs. Henry Parish (“Sister Parish”) (1910-1994) is considered by many to be the last of America’s grande dame decorators. Vogue magazine once said she was “the most famous of all living women interior designers, whose ideas have influenced life styles all over America.” While best known for decorating the White House for Jackie Kennedy, Sister originated the American Country look, one of the most enduring decorative styles of the twentieth century. Her rooms were artful yet unstudied. Parish’s rooms had warmth and character, as well as a sense of permanence. Most surprising, these traditional interiors never dated, but seemed timeless. As she once observed, “Innovation is often the ability to reach into the past and bring back what is good, what is beautiful, what is useful, what is lasting.”
COLLABORATIONS
Lee Jofa Parish Hadley Collection
Mrs.Parish, noted for her innate sense of color, luxury and romance, and Mr. Hadley for his architectural knowledge and love of sleek modernism, use unexpected combinations of textiles – from luxurious chintzes to modern graphic prints to sumptuous silks, velvets and wovens. This collection offers a complete representation of the expected and unexpected choices for which the firms are famous.
This is the second collaboration between the venerable Lee Jofa and Parish Hadley. In the 1970s, Mrs. Parish and Mr. Hadley worked with Lee Jofa on a collection of prints, combining the imagination, style and textile expertise shown in the present Lee Jofa Parish Hadley collection.
Susan Crater and Apple Bartlett worked with Lee Jofa creative director Stephen Elrod on this turly amazing collection. The Parish Hadley collection is available through the Lee Jofa network of showrooms and road representatives as well as online through LeeJofa.com.
Dempsey & Carroll
Presenting an exclusive line of stationery with Dempsey & Carroll.
Dempsey & Carroll has long been considered the finest purveyor of elegant engraved social stationery. In 1878, John Dempsey, a talented engraver, and George Carroll, a savvy businessman, collaborated on the founding of a company that would not only provide its customers with lucury writing papers but also offer advice on etiquette and proper decorum in a variety of social settings. To the founders, the social institutions of correspondence and etiquette were inseparable, and they saw Dempsey & Carroll as an ideal marriage of the two.
One Kings Lane & Sister Parish
In 2015, One Kings Lane designed a new line of furniture featuring designs from the Sister parish archives. “These pieces… pay homage to Sister Parish’s fearless love of patterns” and One Kings Lane’s initiative to bring unique, quality design products to their customers.
SISTER PARISH DESIGN
Founded in 2000, Sister Parish is a heritage brand that began with the goal of resurrecting the prints and wallpapers that Ms. Parish loved. The resulting collection embodies the charm, warmth and flair of her signature style. From a tidy pattern of dots to a star spangled trellis design, Sister Parish Design fabrics and wallpapers carry on a tradition of the “Parish Hadley” style of timeless patterns that represent an eclectic mix of materials – both traditional and modern. Elle Decor aptly summed up the brand when the collection premiered: “Sister Parish Design – fun, groovy fabrics from the archives of grande-dame decorator Sister Parish meld ’60s sizzle with social register swank… Think preppy winters in Palm Beach and brisk weekends fuleled by martinis and touch football.” Mitchell Owens, 2000 Elle Decor.
Our collection of fabrics and wall coverings are hand silk-screened in the United States and are printed on natural fabrics in an eco friendly environment. The majority utilize vat dye printing with a few using pigment dye. All are earth based dyes. The work of the hand and quality of workmanship is apparent in every yard produced. Custom work, produced in conjunction with our clients specific designs and/or colorways, is an important part of what we do. We place a premium on customer service and welcome custom challenges!
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