User:Lwilkins93/sandbox
Becky Smith was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the founder of Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric.
Family
Becky Smith's great-great grandmother, Babou Warfild was a notable interior designer. She held a privately owned design firm, The Warfield Shops in St. Louis, Missouri. [1] Babou Warfield's husband was related to the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson Warfild. [2]
Education
Business
Becky Smith founded Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric in 2007. Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric uses the same mill in France as the Warfield Shops. The Warfields bought the building for the Warfield Shops from the wife of Col. Roger Brunschwig. Old records from the shop provided the name of the mill in France, kept secret by current textile industry leaders like Scalamandré and Brunschwig et Fils. [2]
The work of the artists of Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric (see below) was first popularized by the Lilly Pulitzer brand. The history of the designs is a specific form of textile art, originally created from 1960-1984. After a 25 year hiatus the artists are creating their art again for textiles as Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric.
The company is five years old. It survived one of the most difficult downturns in the United States' home industry and economic history as well as the movement of fashion and design into the digital world. Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric is distributed through Brunschwig et Fils.[3] Brunschwig et Fils is 112 years old. [4]
The artists for Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric Suzie Zuzek dePoo, Martha dePoo, and Leigh Martin Hooten were the original designers for Lilly Pulitzer from the 1960's through the 1980's. The three women were responsible for creating a new genre of design in the 1960's which is now widely recognizable as Lilly Pulitzer. [5]
Suzie Zuzek dePoo (1920–2011) was born in Gowanda, New York. After serving in World War II, she attended the Pratt Institute in New York on the GI Bill. She majored in textile design, graduating as valedictorian. dePoo worked in New York as a dress and textile designer for the Herman Blanc Studios. After marrying and moving to Key West, dePoo served as head Designer for Key West Hand Print Fabrics and Lilly Pulitzer for twenty-five years from 1959-1984.
Martha dePoo was born in Key West, Florida. She is the daughter of artist Suzie Zuzek dePoo. After graduation from Key West High School in 1973, dePoo worked with her mother creating designs at Key West Hand Print Fabrics for Lilly Pulitzer for 12 years. Eventually dePoo became a department head at Key West Hand Print Fabrics. She is watercolor painter and has won first place in the Florida Watercolor Society's Juried Show in 2000 and 2005. [6]
Leigh Marin Hooten attended and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textile Design from the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hooten worked with Suzie and Martha dePoo at Key West Hand Print Fabrics, creating many designs for Lilly Pulitzer. Hooten continues to produce textile art, largely working out of New York, Philadelphia, and Key West.[10]
Philanthropy
Becky Smith of Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric designed "Le Preppy Papillon de Thatchers'" for St. Louis foundation, "Wings in the City". Wings in the City is a public art project benefiting the BJC Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care Program. Thatchers' Fine Timeless Fabric collaborated with the Skandalaris Students of Washington University to recreate the artwork of Leigh Martin Hooten. [7]