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CARLETON VARNEY
Carleton Varney, one of America’s best known interior
designers, is associated with the restoration and decoration
of countless hotels and resorts all over the world, among
them: Dromoland and Ashford Castles in Ireland; The Waldorf
Towers and Plaza Hotel in New York; Grand Hotel on Mackinac
Island (Michigan) ; The Breakers in Palm Beach and the Greenbrier
in West Virginia. In years past he was the design consultant
to the Carter Presidential Library and for numerous functions
at the White House. He also restored and redecorated the
Official Vice President’s Residence in Washington D.C.,
the Governor’s Mansion in West Virginia, and the U.S.
Embassy in Tokyo.
His versatility in design can be seen in the wide range
of products that bear his mark, ranging from furniture, lamps,
dinner-ware, crystal, and linen designs. His own line of
fabric designs, launched under the name Carleton Varney by
the yard, grace the private residences of his impressive
roster of clients which include superstars from the worlds
of entertainment, fashion and business.
Recent projects include a residence on the island of St.
Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a Fifth Avenue apartment
and summer house in Southampton, (N.Y.) for celebrity clients
from the theater world. Other current projects include two
residences in California (Palm Springs and Lake Arrowhead);
an apartment in Washington D.C.; a 21,000 sq. ft. summer
residence on Lake Michigan; residences in Palm Beach, Boca
Grande, and Jacksonville, Florida; and an island retreat
in the Caribbean. Hospitality projects just beginning include
a senior citizen’s luxury resort facility in Denver,
Colorado, and the penthouse suites at the Stoneleigh Hotel
in Dallas, Texas.
He is the president of Dorothy Draper & Co. Inc. (New
York) the oldest established interior design firm in the
United States, named after the founder of the company who
was one of the doyennes of interior design from the 1920’s
to the 1960’s and who was honored by the Museum of
the City of New York last year in a very successful retrospective
exhibition of her work. The exhibition was then shown at
the Women’s Museum in Dallas, Texas, and will now continue
to the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, to open in February
2008. Carleton Varney
has penned a biography on Dorothy Draper entitled The Draper
Touch – The High Life and High Style of Dorothy Draper.
His latest book on Dorothy Draper, In The Pink-Dorothy Draper
- America’s most fabulous Decorator, published concurrently
with the museum exhibition, is filled with countless photographs
of her work, taken from the archives of Dorothy Draper & Company
and includes many photographs that have never been published
before. Carleton Varney is also a well known syndicated newspaper
columnist and author of numerous books, most on design, but
also including two novels – Kiss the Hibiscus Good
Night and The Decorator and an autobiography entitled There’s
No Place Like Home.
Carleton Varney’s design philosophy stresses the use
of bright colors and the rejection of all that is impractical,
uncomfortable and drab. In embracing this practice, he continues
the tradition of Dorothy Draper by being associated with
the imaginative use of vibrant colors, floral patterns and
bold contrasts – a legacy that is reflected, no only
in his interior designs, but also, most notably, in his fabric
and scarf designs.
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