WOMEN AS DESIGNERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7695, 2 May 1903, Page 3

WOMEN AS DESIGNERS.

Art and !ec__.ical Skill. (New York Sun.) A young- New York woman furnishes designs for art rugs which are made up in the Orient. The modern makeis of Oriental rugs wish to utilise the cheap Eastern labour and the native knowledge of dyeing: ; prooesses, but they want novel, attractive patterns, to show off the fine weaving and colouring. Hence the employment of a woman designer, who knows- what willi please and be appropriate. "Ib seems odd to be designing paittarnsj •over here for Oriental looms, perhaps," the young artist remarked in "howing her drawings. " But in reality the modem-made antique rugs are far . better suited' to the wear of modern household's and the average servant's handling than the genuine antique rugs, whose age and- extreme fineness' make them delicate. Genuine antique rugs may cost thousands of dollars and will not long survive the beating- and dustings thab modern city life entails, whereas the riigs I draw patterns for are mado of strong, new-spun wool, are very often hand-woven throughout and can ba got for lOOdol to 150dol. The designer's success is the fruit of three years of constant' study and research: iii historic ornament and its practical adaptation. She spent many morning- in the carpeb and rug manufactories watching the actual processes of weaving and dyeing, ahd in other ways fitted herself tb pub her natural talent to. useful, everyday purpose. The rugs she-designs have quaintly intermingled borders and centre objects, that mark them at once as distinctive. ,But she is only one of many women who are now profiting by the manufacturer's demand for modern American designs. A clever young artist who won several medals during her course of inst. notion has recently sold original designs for lace edgings and flouncing)- to three separate business houses thab turn out fine machineiymade laces. The silk manufacturers have shown a marked preference for home designs, and the woman who is best known for taste and skill in this direction has half-a-dozen young girls working in her studio', applying colours to the designs she creates and otherwise assisting her, with, a view to perfecting their own studies and aspirations. At one time these art apprentices reoeived only a small commission on the designs sold, but the increasing demands for original work now warrant .their getting regular salaries. Another young woman evolves many pretty designs for chintzes, cretonnes and other cotton diapery stuffs, which the American mills manufacture. She has had such suocess of late that she has employed an assistant. According to her experienoe, women's designs in the textile line don't go begging as was once the case. If the designs are good and genuinely practical they find ready sale. A few years ago the most industrious investigation failed to discover a single instance of a book cover designer able to support herself witb her artist's labours, but to-day on© hears on all sides of woman's success in book cover making. One young widow keeps herself and her little boy in quite comfortable circumstances through her book cover work for publishers and book lovers who have choice volumes bound to order-. Some of her designs sell for 15 and 18 dollars apiece. Four busy young designers find profitable employment with the importing and furnishing houses in desig_ning iportieTes, draperies 'and wall hangings for manufacturers. A graduate in applied design thinks out unique embroidery .pattenus for .a wellknown firm of needlework furnishers: She not only draws the designs but demonstrates their practical working for publication in the firm's journal of instruction which is sent out to customers. She also furnishes designs for a San Francisco dealer in needlework materials and sells individualcustomers embroidery designs that bring as high as 50 dollars. Other women de-; signers who work for embroidery companies make- 3 and 4 dollars a day. A girl student of architectural designs and struotures has just completed satisfactory drawings of engine houses for the New York Fire Department — designs which show originality and forethought for practical needs and convenience. It' is estimated iby teachers who keep truck of their pupils that more and moi.ai*c'hite_t_ are giving employment in their offices to women, and that the work of women in tfliis. branch of industrial art is entirely satisfactory. Over forty young women have been installed as architects', assistants in Greater New Yqrk within the laab year. They receive equal pay with the men assistants. In designing covers for sheet music and for selected editions of composers' works, musical text books, etc., young women-de-signers are taking- very "respectable rank with artists of greater experience and familiarity^ with the field. Designs of tJhis order bring in from 10 to -.15 dollars each. The designs for. coats, of arms for tapestry and embroidery work net the artists from .8 dollars up-.. Original .patterns for book plates founded on family (tradition or the pet taste of th© buyer afford anothep phase of art work .peculiarly adapted to woman's ivers-tility and aptness. There are three young women partners Ln art work in well-placed business, studios in the central and upper thoroughfares of fche city,: Ik«X desijj- andi work ia -all.

manner, of materials, from water colours to burnt wood and tapestry kaAher. Shirt-waist sets, consisting of three buttons and sleeve links painted in various d-esigns and burnt, in on china moulds, gilded or ungilded, are a specialty with one firm. Dinner, theatre and valentine cards, also favours for children's parties and cotillons, are another, profitable field' for originality. One energetic firm of women designers gets up tho frontispieces for a number of amusement programmes, and also furnishes quaint designs for easels and photographframes in wood, metal and decorated leather.

Whatever the sphere of work, the testimony generally is to the effect that original designing is in demand at present, and that the woman who has ideas and the technical training to present them does not lack orders. Only in the matter of wall-paper designing is the outlook as yet unpromising for new-oomers in the field. In all other lines the times are good. ? *-