Dorothy Draper & Company, Inc., America’s oldest, established, continually operating design firm was established in 1925. Founder Dorothy Draper, coined by Good Housekeeping magazine as the ‘Doyenne of Decorating’, was known for her maximalist use of vivid color, stripes and bold patterns as well as her signature use of black and white checkerboard floors, cabbage rose chintz, and plasterwork indicative of Hollywood Regency style as we know it today. Mrs. Draper is considered to be the first to professionalize interior decorating and her work, and countless inspired interiors can still be seen in private homes, public spaces, and prestigious resorts throughout the world.
In the late 1950’s Carleton Varney, known as Mr. Color, joined Dorothy Draper & Company as a draftsman. With Mrs. Draper as a mentor and mutual love of exuberant interiors, Varney became Mrs. Draper’s protege and worked on projects with her until she retired. In the 1960’s Varney bought the company, and was President of Dorothy Draper & Company with a reign for over 60 years until his passing in 2022. With his signature sophisticated, glamorous, and joyful interiors, Mr. Varney is known as one of the most accomplished designers in the country.
Today, his sons Sebastian and Nicholas Varney co-own the firm. Sebastian runs the day-to-day operations and Nicholas advises on creative. The Dorothy Draper & Company team consists of exceptional designers and experienced project managers, with Rudy Saunders who worked side by side with Mr. Varney as the Design Director. Many of Dorothy Draper & Company’s established partnerships continue including maintaining the historic spaces and updating the almost-400 guest rooms at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and at The Greenbrier, the 710 guest rooms and cottages at the resort located in White Sulphur Springs, WV along with private clients with residences at The Greenbrier Sporting Club. In addition the company is designing residences in Alabama, Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Since our inception, our team has completed countless commercial projects, predominantly hospitality. From large scale resorts to boutique hotels, retail spaces to restaurants, we are able to transform and create a unique and memorable experience for guests. Our vast array of resources allow us to source globally to bring the best vendors, artisans, and craftsmen to our projects. Handling all of the procurement to streamline the design process and deliver a fabulous result.
Creating one-of-a-kind luxury interiors for residences around the world that delight is a focus of our team. The attention to detail and personalization for individual clients has generations of families turning to us for multiple residences internationally. Our projects feature unique Dorothy Draper signature products that can be found nowhere else. We dream pieces to create a truly unique environment for our clients.
We love to create specialty events for philanthropies, weddings, and more – bringing the Draper aesthetic to a function in a particular way. Working alongside event planners, florists, and event teams we are able to color and style an event for great success.
One of our trademarks is creating marketing and branding schemes for our projects to ensure that everything from uniforms to menus compliment the interior for a truly detail focused space.
Our founder, Dorothy Draper, was the first to professionalize interior design and her work continues to inspire today. She is the only interior designer to have had a major, solo museum retrospective of her work, receiving over 1 million visitors in 2006.
