Mrs. Draper was an oracle who encouraged everyone to find their true selves. She offered a correspondence course called ‘Learn To Live”, in which she extorted ‘to realize that only being kind to yourself you can be really kind to others”. Has there ever being a decorator as famous as Dorothy Draper? Perhaps not. Draper’s fame was hard-earned and based on her originality as a stylist and her daring. Her fabrics and wallpapers are overblown, exhilaratingly wild, vivid, theatrical, cheerful that delight and amuse.

Harper’s Bazaar in 1941 stated “She uses logic in her own way and not as a limitation. She has stood art, nature, history, and geography on their ears when necessary in order to obtain from them her special personal refreshing effects’.

Mrs. Draper’s belief in the importance of color never wavered “Now we all know that lovely clear colors have a vital effect on our mental happiness. Modern doctors and psychiatrists are convinced of this!”“Look ahead plan for the future. Success is not built on past laurels, but rather on continuous activity. Keep busy searching out new ideas and, experimentally, keep ahead of the times, or at least up with them.”

Today our Dorothy Draper Fabrics and wallcoverings embody all the DNA of our founder. Mrs. Draper’s protégée, Carleton Varney has continued her vision for over 54 years and for the last 14 years, Brinsley Matthews has carried her torch also, expanding our line creating new deigns for prints, wovens and wallpapers.

We are the past, the now and the future. That is who we are. The fun is in the doing!

Brinsley Matthews - Head of Design & Operations

Brinsley Matthews is the head of Design and Operations at Dorothy Draper Fabrics & Wallcoverings and Dorothy Draper Home. Mr. Matthews is constantly creating new designs for hotels, resorts, and private residences, as well as fabrics, wallcoverings, carpets, furnishings and lighting. He is also responsible for the firm’s global operations across four locations, and leads wholesale and retail businesses. 

Since joining the Dorothy Draper company in London in 2007, Mr. Matthews lead the design firm together with Carleton Varney, creating and executing acclaimed designs for numerous company projects, including the Lithuania Royal Duke’s Palace, Vilinuis, The Architectural Digest Greenroom at the 2008 Academy Awards, Los Angeles, the Greenbrier Resort WV, The Grand Hotel in Michigan, The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, plus numerous other projects. 

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Matthews was involved in his family hotel business. Mr. Matthews also previously founded and operated his own furniture line, with manufacturing operations to-the-trade and three retail locations in Europe. A man of many talents, Mr. Matthews was also a former race car driver competing mainly in Europe. He is the author of Lands Shared, a book of poetry published by Seven Locks Press in 2007, is a documentary producer and director, and public speaker. 

 Mr. Matthews studied Fine and Decorative Arts and Design at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London and at Trinity College and University College Dublin.