Bielecky Brothers Billy Baldwin Rattan Chest

Billy Baldwin had the unusual distinction of being the first man to break the glass ceiling of interior decoration, which before WWII was ruled by a coterie of ladies. 

The look that Baldwin championed in the mid-century was entirely American: classical in foundation, but modern in spirit, free of ostentation and unconcerned with trends. “Be faithful to your own taste,” he used to tell clients, “because nothing you really like is ever out of style.”

By the 1960s, just about every American taste-making blue blood was Baldwin's client, including Jackie Onassis, Pamela Harriman, Nan Kempner, Bunny Mellon and Babe Paley. If you ever wondered who was responsible for Diana Vreeland’s unforgettable “garden in hell” crimson drawing room, it was Billy B, as his friends called him.

“I always say I love color better than people,” he once remarked. He also loved cotton, calling it “his life,” detested damask and satin, and claimed to have “made a lady out of wicker.” His quips were legendary.

Unlike most decorators of his era, Baldwin believed that every project should feature furnishings already belonging to the client, so that the client’s personality would manifest in the room’s atmosphere. That atmosphere would emerge out of Baldwin’s selection of other furnishings — both old and new, American, European and Asian — and his choice of colors, mix of patterns and keen sense of proportion and scale.

If good antiques were beyond a client’s budget, Baldwin advised buying top contemporary pieces, rather than reproductions. What was important was quality, as well as comfort. A resolute anti-snob, Baldwin detested pretentious people. He believed decorating was a collaborative adventure embarked on with the client.

Embracing of new materials, including fake leather and plastic, in the mid-1950s, Baldwin covered the walls of Cole Porter’s tony Waldorf Astoria suite in tortoise shell vinyl. For that project, possibly his masterwork, he also designed floor-to-ceiling brass étagères, as he felt it “would be extravagant to do built-in bookcases for an apartment in a hotel.” His enthusiasm for chintz slipcovers prompted Porter to threaten, “Don’t you dare slipcover these pianos!” When the hotel suite was published, the étagères began showing up everywhere. Baldwin was not pleased. “If I find that something I am doing is becoming a trend, I run from it like the plague,” he declared.

For the New York City apartment of William and Babe Paley in the St. Regis hotel, Baldwin covered the damaged walls in a shirred geometric fabric, which started another trend. Among other much-copied design signatures were low slipper chairs, swing arm brass lamps, dark-hued rooms, rattan-wrapped Parson’s tables and arresting orchestrations of brilliantly patterned cotton prints.

When he turned 70, Baldwin retired and a few years later decamped to Nantucket where he had often summered, and which he loved in part for its strong, clear New England light. When he died at 80, he had influenced a generation of American decorators and shaped the tastes of Americans on a mass-scale, even those who never knew his name.

Browse a wide range of vintage Billy Baldwin furniture on 1stDibs.

Todd Hase Furniture, Inc. includes a full collection of upholstery, tables, casegoods, accessories, lighting, and textiles. Designed by Todd Hase, the line is distinctly modern. It uses a classic vocabulary of shapes and lines to offer a pared down, simplified, ultimately usable collection of home furnishings. Old world techniques of manufacturing are applied to these modern products. Eight-way hand tied springs fill upholstered seating and hand fitted marquetry patterns of beautiful veneers enhance tables, casegoods, and lighting. The original Todd Hase showroom opened in 1995 in Soho, New York City. Todd Hase designed products are manufactured in the USA, and shipped both domestically and around the world. In addition to the Todd Hase Collection, Todd Hase hand selects antiques from Paris, France and Mid Century modern furniture and accessories for the Todd Hase | Home showrooms in New York and Palm Beach. The Todd Hase | Home showrooms offer an eclectic mix of Todd Hase Collection furniture and textiles, French antiques, Mid Century modern vintage furniture, lighting, accessories, fine art, and garden furniture. The Todd Hase | Home showrooms and interior design projects have been embraced by celebrity clientele, designers, the press, and home shopping customers alike. Todd Hase | Home showrooms, products, and interior design projects have been published in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House and Garden, The New York Times, House Beautiful, and more.