On 4 February I will be giving an online talk for the Victorian Society on the work of Rhoda and Agnes Garrett. I wrote at length about their business in Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their circle but the research is ongoing and I am delighted to be able to include in this talk a little newly-uncovered information.
Rhoda and Agnes Garrett, “House Decorators, Cabinet Makers, and Designers of all the Details of Household Furniture and Upholstery”: the History of a Business, 1874–1905 by Elizabeth Crawford
Tue 4 February, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Agnes (1845–1935) and Rhoda (1841–82) Garrett were the first women to run a professional interior design business. Thinking it essential to have a training, they served a three-year apprenticeship with the architect J M Brydon before embarking on an enterprise that, despite Rhoda’s early death, continued into the twentieth century. Elizabeth Crawford is the author of numerous articles and books, including Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their Circle (2002), which describes in detail the work of R. and A. Garrett – and that of their female friends and relations who did so much to transform the lives of women.
