Jacqueline Ayer

Jacqueline Brandford Ayer (May 2, 1930[1] – May 20, 2012) was an American author, illustrator, fashion and textile designer, and recipient of a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators.[1] She founded the fashion brand Design-Thai, worked in India producing textiles and wrote and illustrated children's books including Nu Dang and His Kite, A Wish for Little Sister and A Paper Flower Tree.

Jacqueline Ayer
Born(1930-05-02)May 2, 1930
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedMay 20, 2012(2012-05-20) (aged 82)
London, UK
NationalityUnited States
Education
Known forAuthor, illustrator, fashion designer
Spouse(s)Frederic Lyman Ayer

Career

Jacqueline Ayer was born in New York City to Jamaican parents.[2] Her father Edward Brandford was a graphic artist[2] who founded The Brandford Modeling Agency, the first licensed African-American agency in the United States.[3][4] Her mother, Thelma Brandford,[2] was a sample cutter and shop steward for the ILGWU (International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union). Ayer grew up in the "Coops",[2] an East Bronx cooperative built for garment workers.[5] She went to the High School of Music & Art in New York[2] and then Syracuse University,[1] followed by the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (drawing), the École Paul Colin (graphics) and the École des Beaux-Arts[1] (painting) in Paris.

While she was in France in the early 1950s, Ayer worked as a fashion illustrator, sketching the models as they walked down the runway at the Paris collections. From there she was introduced to Christian Dior and Michel de Brunhoff, the editor of Vogue Paris, who helped to support her and develop her work.[6] In 1950, she was featured alongside Man Ray in the "Fantsastische Gebete" segment of the film Dadascope (released 1961) by Hans Richter. She played the black chess queen; Man Ray's muse (later wife) Juliet Browner played the white queen.[6]

She moved back to New York in 1953 and began working for the department store Bonwit Teller as a fashion illustrator; among her colleagues there was the young Andy Warhol.[6] She returned to Paris on holiday in 1956, where she met fellow American Frederic Ayer.[2] They got married and traveled by boat and train across Asia, before renting a house in Bangkok, where their first daughter Margot was born. Their second daughter Elizabeth was born two-and-a-half years later.[2]

Inspired by her surroundings in Thailand, Ayer began to work on a series of children's books based on her illustrations of day-to-day life in Bangkok.[2] She was offered a publishing deal by Harcourt Brace in New York, and went on to publish eight children's books (four as author and illustrator, four as illustrator),[6] including Nu Dang and His Kite,[2][7][8] A Wish for Little Sister[9] and A Paper Flower Tree[7]

In Bangkok Ayer met Jim Thompson, the founder of The Thai Silk Company, who had been approached by an executive working for Nelson Rockefeller's International Basic Economy Corporation about developing a business based on traditional Thai crafts. Jim Thompson suggested modernising traditional Thai patterns and printing them on his silks. On Thompson's recommendation, Ayer was hired as the designer for the new company, which she decided to name Design-Thai. The printed textiles, which included silks and cottons, were popular with both Europeans and Americans. Ayer designed both fabrics and clothing patterns. Design-Thai was able to expand, opening a large shop in Bangkok branching into ready-to-wear clothing.[6][10][7][11][12][13][14] In 1966–67, Design-Thai had over 400 employees[13][15] and, during Ayer's tenure, its wares were sold by shops including Harrod's.[14]

In the 1970s Ayer worked for the Indian government, helping to develop traditional crafts and cottage industries across the country. She also had a stint in New York designing bed linen, which was sold in top department stores including Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus. But she was mainly based in London,[2] where she designed soft furnishings for brands including The Conran Shop and Ralph Lauren, as well as publishing a book on the history of Oriental costumes. In later life, Ayer continued to draw and paint, and many of her final works were large-scale watercolours featuring flowers and her personal belongings.

The Paper-Flower Tree and Nu Dang and His Kite were republished in June and July respectively in 2017 by New York-based publishers Enchanted Lion Books, in conjunction with an exhibition on Jacqueline Ayer's illustration and fashion design at The House of Illustration in London, June 17 to October 22, 2017.[7]

Publications

Children's books
Author and illustrator
Illustrator

Adults' books
Author and illustrator

References
  1. "Jacqueline Ayer Collection (finding aid)". University of Minnesota Archives and Special Collections. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  2. Hannah Booth (June 18, 2017). "The groundbreaking children's books that drew on life in Thailand". The Guardian. Retrieved June 27, 2017.
  3. "Black History Daily: Who had the First Licensed Black Modeling Agency?". HBCUConnect. August 26, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  4. Jessie Carney Smith, ed. (2006). "Barbara May Watson". Encyclopedia of African American Business, Volume 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 823. ISBN 0313331103.
  5. "United Workers' Cooperative Colony (designation report)" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  6. Jacueline Ayer: Drawing on Thailand. London: House of Illustration. 2017. Catalog published to accompany Jacqueline Ayer: Drawing on Thailand, on show at House of Illustration from June 16 to October 22, 2017.
  7. "Jacqueline Ayer: Drawing on Thailand". London: House of Illustration. 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017. This specifically mentions her as founder of Design-Thai.
  8. (2015). Literature for Children (1959). World Book Year Books. World Book Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.ezproxy.spl.org
  9. (2015). Literature for Children (1960). World Book Year Books. World Book Publishing. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.ezproxy.spl.org
  10. "Thailand: Millions from the Mulberry Bush". Time Magazine. July 16, 1965. Paywalled. Also reprinted at "A New Start". xinkaishi.typepad.com. August 5, 2007. (Citation for her role in Design-Thai and for the Rockefeller involvement.)
  11. Joan Rattner (a.k.a. Joan Rattner Heilman) (August 30, 1964). "Thailand Adventure". This Week. pp. 6–7. So, in 1961, when the International Basic Economy Corporation, a Rockefeller-financed self-help project, bought a textile printing plant [in Thailand], it turned to the handiest local talent, Mrs. Ayer, to design fabrics to be produced in the factory. This was part of IBEC's activities aimed at helping the Thais to develop their native industries, and get them going full steam. Of course, fabrics and clothing have been exported from Hong Kong ever since the war, but this was a new idea in Bangkok except for American Jim Thompson's already-famous Thai silks.¶ Mrs. Ayer toured the museums and the countryside, examined patterns, symbols and colors used in Asian fabrics which were usually hand loomed and hand printed. Then she simplified them, enlarged them, made the more contemporary, easier to print, simpler to produce. Colors had to change too as the old-time Thai vegetable dye colors often seemd dim and faded for Western Tastes.¶ Designing fabrics soon led to designing dresses and a firm named Design Thai...
  12. "Inspiration from the Orient". London Illustrated Weekly. February 3, 1968. p. 34.
  13. Alison Adburgham (August 25, 1967). "East Comes West". The Guardian. p. 6.
  14. Anne Price (November 18, 1965). "Legacy of Beauty". Country Life. p. 1366.
  15. "Clothes in Oriental Mood". The Times. March 1, 1966. p. 11.
  16. (2015). Literature for Children (1962). World Book Year Books. World Book Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.ezproxy.spl.org
  17. (2015). Literature for Children (1967). World Book Year Books. World Book Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.ezproxy.spl.org
  18. (2015). Literature for Children (1978). World Book Year Books. World Book Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.ezproxy.spl.org
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