ROSE CUMMING: 100 Years of Elegance and Style

Thomas Britt, via Architectural Digest

Kudos must go to Chuck Comeau, of Dessin Fournir , for saving one of the most iconic and fabulous fabric houses of all time- ROSE CUMMING ! 

One hundred years ago , Miss Rose came to the United States, from her native Australia- and the interior design world has never been quite the same since!  Above, you can see my friend and mentor Thomas Britt's work- using the iconic and beautiful pattern known as "banana leaves".   Tom also used this (metallic) gold over taupe colorway in his own New York apartment- where I was first exposed to the grandeur and high style of his work- and the beauty of Rose Cumming's legacy to him, as he had been a personal friend of hers. 

Actually, I had first purchased yardage of banana leaves myself, in 1976, in the taupe colorway (sans the gold) for my Mother's home in Winston-Salem, NC.  She still has some of the pillows we made and loves them!



"Photograph courtesy of Dessin Fournir Companies" 

Ashley Comeau of Dessin Fournir, was kind enough to send these high resolution images of some of the most popular designs from Rose Cumming- and you may be interested in reading some of my previous posts on Miss Rose as well.  This is such a dynamic pattern, and it's been used by many top designers over the years. 

I had also installed the wallpaper version in my design studio bath in Winston-Salem, in the camel on black colorway, which was so striking and dramatic.

Rose Cumming "Photograph courtesy of Dessin Fournir Companies" 

Here's another very chic pattern, called "Sabu" - animal prints being something we never tire of!

Sabu by Rose Cumming, "Photograph courtesy of Dessin Fournir Companies"

Sabu in green, image via google

And here is "Zebrine"- another very popular and exotic but modern and current design, demonstrating how ahead of the times Miss Rose was.

Zebrine by Rose Cumming, "Photograph courtesy of Dessin Fournir Companies"

Zebrine wallcovering, Rose Cumming, via House Beautiful

I want to thank Ashley Comeau for her assistance with providing information for this post.  As you can see, we barely touched on this subject- one can read more about it in the beautiful book on Rose Cumming and Dessin Fournir here !  DF *****

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via Amazon books

 

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When Miss Rose Inspired Oscar

The beautiful chinoiserie paper, "Jardinieres and Citrus Trees" by de Gournay of London, was used as end papers for one of my favorite new design books, Rose Cumming Design Inspiration.  Written by Jeffrey Simpson (Rizzoli) - it's a fabulous source for ideas and concepts as well as a most personal story of one iconic decorators life.

The fashion designer Oscar de la Renta (another favorite of mine) used to walk by Miss Roses' shop, and the following story amuses me greatly.  It's from the book, and is the most charming and inspiring tale!

But I must digress, and go back to another favorite of mine, the "Banana Leaves" fabric, which Dessin Fournir is now representing, and which Albert Hadley was using while at McMillen back in the 1950's.  The most interesting story of how this elegant and yet casual fabric was created is also revealed in Mr. Simpson's tome.  Below, my Teddie bear and my grandmothers quilt are resting on a Louis XV style chair, which I had covered in "Banana Leaves", by Rose Cumming.  (Miss Rose)

I think this layered look is fun, and it reminds me of say, Mrs. Henry "sister" Parish crossed with Gloria Vanderbilt... and my "Brandon Beige" by Benjamin Moore walls are the same shade of taupe as the leaves!  Anyway, back to Oscar (with apologies to Miles Redd).  Here is the recanted tale of when Oscar de la Renta was inspired by one of Miss Rose's pieces.  Long, long ago, in old New York.  

Oscar de la Renta remembers that he used to walk home from his work at Elizabeth Arden past Rose's store every night, and that one night he saw this fantastic secretary desk, made of mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell, with an inside of marquetry and bone.  He was at a dinner party at Babe Paley's house the following evening, and Babe told him that she had seen the same piece in the store, had fallen in love with it, and inquired as to the price, but it turned out to be too expensive for her.  Oscar then said to himself that if it was too expensive for Babe Paley, it would be too expensive for him, as he was very early in his career at this point.  Two weeks later, however, after seeing the desk every night, he told himself that he was in love with it, and that he had to have it.  He went into the store and spoke to Rose Cumming's sister and asked how much the desk was.  He was told it was $25,000.  He told her that was impossible for him to pay that, asked what her best price was, and if he could pay over time.  He bought the desk for $22,000 and paid it off over three years.  Every month he gave what he could from his paycheck, sometimes more, sometimes less.  He was never harassed no matter how little he gave that month.  The secretary is in Oscar de la Renta's house in the Dominican Republic to this day.

Wow!  I just love this story...

     
 Above, a close up of the iconic Rose Cumming fabric.  It comes in other colorways, and the bright green is very classic, as well as the metallic gold.  There is an original "document" image of this fabric in the Simpson book, in a tomato and chocolate version, very hand blocked- Rose's sister Dorothy hand printed it down in Jamaica originally.  Funny, the first time I bought some, back in 1976, I was with my mother, Dorothy!  (She still has it btw)  So, as you can see, if you don't yet have this terrific book, you might want to get a copy.  Enjoy! Cheers!  DF ***** 

Decorative Richness, Rose Cumming

I finally received my fabulous copy of the new Jeffrey Simpson book called "Rose Cumming Design Inspiration" - (Rizzoli) !  What a delicious treat.  This is a great history and Roger Comeau of Dessin Fournir, has saved the company- Christopher Petkanas also did a fabulous piece on Rose in the NYT...

The drawing room

Colour Story

Another beautiful room by Rose Cumming

I felt a personal connection to the new book, since I knew Ron Grimaldi, and met Mrs Cecil, the sister of Miss Rose.  Too, Albert used to talk to me about knowing Rose, and of course, I was also exposed to her by another fab mentor, Tom Britt...and when I was a young man of about 17 or so, I very serendipitously discovered her ancient and mysterious shop, on Park Avenue, near 53rd Street- (since demolished). And- my friend Marcy, has a sister, Mary Jo, who married into the Cecil family- related to the Vanderbilts by marriage- as in BILTMORE...

Biltmore Estate, property of the Cecil family

I recall Ronald or someone telling me that Gloria Vanderbilt, (whom he helped to decorate her Sutton Place apartment) once paid about $16,000.00 for one pillow, and I adore shocking my clients and customers off the street with this little tidbit of decorating trivia!  I also was most interested to learn that my idol, Michael Taylor, placed a large order for "Carisbrook" and that is what launched the revival of Rose's fabrics after her death in the sixties, fostered by Ron Grimaldi and Eileen Cecil.


Tom Britt's drawing room




Carisbrook, by Rose Cumming, through Dessin Fournir

  The beautiful and exotic birds in Tom's upstairs salon, once hung in Miss Rose's "Ugly Room" a space she created to show how anything from nature was valid, and to express her unique point of view- there is a colour plate of this room in the famous book "The Finest Rooms" and I would urge you to reference the book, and the image I am describing, to get the full impact of how special the work Miss Rose did really was.  Enjoy the day, wherever you are! DF *****