5 women who shaped the landscape of Australian interior design

The post-war boom in homeownership served to heighten public interest in the ways of interior design and decoration, and at the same time, women were participating in the workforce more. These two events together formed an opportunity for creative women with a flair for decorating and an eye for good design to claim and shape the role of the ‘interior designer’ as we know it today.

Born in Ireland in 1885, Ruth Lane Poole moved to Melbourne in 1925 when her husband was appointed as Commonwealth Forestry Advisor. Ruth had grown up as a member of the esteemed literary and creative Yeats family in Ireland and learned embroidery from her cousin Lily who studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. 

In 1926, Ruth Lane Poole was the first woman appointed by the Australian government to oversee interior decoration, and her first task was to design the interiors of Government House and the Prime Minister's Lodge in Canberra. Ruth was known for her elegant style with Irish Celtic undertones and her refined use of embroidery and Australian timbers. Eventually, she established a reputation as an authority on trends, decoration and furniture thanks to her advice articles published in The Australian Home Beautiful.

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Marion Hall Best, born in 1905, is widely regarded as one of Australia’s most prolific design legends. She studied at the Frensham Art School in Mittagong in the 1920s where she discovered a love for modern art, an interest that came to influence her interior schemes. Mainly working on domestic, commercial and public projects, Marion was an advocate for interior decorating to be recognised as a profession. 

During her career, she ran the David Jones Art Gallery, created Marion Best Fabrics and established a few retail spaces where she curated and sold a collection of products from local artists and designers, and was the first retailer in Australia to sell iconic designs from Herman Miller and Marimekko.

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Margaret Lord was born in 1908 and studied at Swinbourne Technical College before teaching art in Melbourne secondary schools. She continued her studies at the National Gallery School and in 1936 travelled to London to work for Reens-Arta Interiors Designers of Mayfair, and later for the Arnold School of Interior Decoration. 

Upon her return to Australia in 1940 Margaret secured commissions for the interior design of residential, institutional and commercial buildings, then became a sought-after lecturer and a radio broadcaster on the topic. She published three books on interior design and wrote articles for magazines such as Australian Home Beautiful and The Home. Margaret was also a founding member of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia and participated in their first exhibition in 1953.

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Born in 1912, Mary White was an interior designer and founder of the Mary White School of Art, an institution in Sydney’s eastern suburbs that taught colour and decorating skills, along with a full design course that included public lectures. Mary contributed to the founding of the Crafts Council of Australia and was one of the founding members of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia, of which Mary eventually became president.

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Mary Featherston was born in 1943 in England and arrived in Australia in 1953. Mary is often spoken about in regard to her 30-year design partnership with Grant Featherston, which was formed after she completed interior design training at RMIT and worked as a designer for Mockridge, Stahle and Mitchell Architects in the mid-sixties. While the name ‘Featherston’ is now directly associated with Australia’s mid-century modern movement, Mary was actually well known for her design of learning experiences and children’s play environments and is now considered one of Australia’s thought leaders in this space. She is now an adjunct professor of interior design at RMIT.

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