CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/22/2017

Bold, dashing color on the table: 'Marguerita Mergentime: American Textiles, Modern Ideas'

Every once in a while we get a book that is not like any other. Marguerita Mergentime: American Textiles, Modern Ideas is a refreshing look at an under-recognized giant of American industrial design—a fearless niche specialist in 1930s kitchen textiles. "I thought all table cloths a bore—particularly the white," Mergentime explained to a student audience in 1940. "What people needed, I decided, was bold dashing color on the table, a new kind of design that you just couldn’t resist. After endless toil and labor, I had six exciting gay designs ready to put on the market. There were large oversized dots—solid chunks of color, asymmetric designs and did that surprise them—delectable new color combinations… Modestly, I can say they were sensational. People commented on the idea of bringing lively and challenging colors to the table and wondered why it had not been done before."