Design Legend Joseph Braswell

Today, I'm featuring the work of the late Joseph Braswell, a designer who seemed to have quite a range. As you can see here, he could design masculine, neoclassically inspired interiors. Or, he could do kicky and colorful or elegant and serene. No matter the style in which he was working, his interiors seemed to be elegant, appropriate, and quietly confident.

An Alabama boy who later graduated from Parsons School of Design, Braswell worked for leaders of the field including Melanie Kahane and Raymond Loewy. It was when he set up his own business back in the mid-1950s that his career really took off. I found a quote of Mr. Braswell's on the internet that I think is just terrific, and I'd like to share it with you.

Blessed are the beautifiers, for they see God in everything they do. This work may deal in things, but it is really, truly, at heart, about the people who occupy the space, use the things. If design is good, it makes the people whom it serves better people. It is very difficult to be mean spirited in an uplifting environment. That, ultimately, is what I try, at my best, to deliver.

I'd say he delivered, and with such style and grace.







Braswell quote from Interior Design Magazine