Press
Marguerita Mergentime Sparks Interest
About Marguerita
“The Whimsical Designs of a Forgotten American Icon,” Food52, August 3, 2017
“Designing for Dining: Tablescapes from Napoleon til Now,” Associated Press News, October 14, 2018
The American designer [Marguerita Mergentime] is best known for her bright modernist tablecloths and napkins from 1934 until her death in 1941. They were highlighted in popular magazines of the time and sold in upscale department stores. “They are really about the communal side of dining, and many of them are designed to be conversation starters,” says [Matilda] McQuaid. Stylish and witty, many of Mergentime’s pieces feature quizzes or other conversation starters. The 1939 tablecloth “Food Quiz,” for example, includes the printed phrase: “Do you dish the dirt before you dish the soup?”
“Radical Cloth,” Virginia Bayer, Talking Textiles, New York Textile Month 3, 2018
“Pioneering Artist Rediscovered with Help from Granddaughter She Never Met,” New York Post, March 15, 2019
“Self-taught Designer Marguerita Mergentime Literally Brought Modernism to the Table in America,” AIGA Eye on Design, May 22, 2019
Reissuing Designs
“For Gourmet Gurus: Lively Linens,” New York Post, Holiday Gift Guide, November 21, 2018
“A Redux for Marguerita Mergentime,” New York Times, March 7, 2019
method x Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
In partnership with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, method is celebrating Women In Design with three inspiring designers—Marguerita Mergentime, Ilonka Karasz and Barbara White.
Book Reviews
“Marguerita Mergentime: American Textiles, Modern Ideas,” Artbook & Edited by Donna Ghelerter. Foreword by Madelyn Shaw. Text by Virginia Bayer, Linda Florio, Donna Ghelerter
“Textiled,” Steven Heller, Print Magazine, April 18, 2017
“Finding Marguerita,” Linda Florio, Design Observer, June 21, 2017
Take the Plunge - Designer Reads - Toronto Globe and Mail, July 4th, 2017
“Indelible Inks,” Elle Decor, July/August 2017
“Marguerita Mergentime: Inventing Tablecloths,” Virginia Bayer, Modern Magazine, Summer 2017
“Marguerita Mergentime,” Cover, Autumn 2017
“A Modern Image,” Metropolis, September 2017
“Read” column, Selvedge, September/October 2017
“What to Give: Books on Design,” Wall Street Journal, November 15, 2017
Review of “Marguerita Mergentime: American Textiles, Modern Ideas,” Uppercase Magazine, Issue no. 41, 2019.
Blog Posts
“The Home of Marguerita Mergentime,” Daniella Ohad, Daniella on Design, October 31, 2016
“Joyful Interiors and Marguerita Mergentime,” Daniella Ohad, Daniella on Design, April 17, 2017
“A Bed for Living,” Elizabeth Scheuer, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, August 31, 2017
“Spencerian Horses,” Susan Brown, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, October 17, 2018
“From the Dinner Table to the Display Case: Case Study of a Napkin,” Kira Eng Wilmot, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, December 21, 2018
Talks
“Joyful Interiors, Rediscovering the Textiles of Marguerita Mergentime,”
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, May 10, 2017, Virginia Bayer, Linda Florio, and Donna Ghelerter in conversation with Matilda McQuaid, Deputy Curatorial Director & Head of Textiles
During New York Textile Month in September, 2018, Virginia Bayer, Marguerita’s granddaughter, gave a talk, “The Power of Cloth: Marguerita Mergentime,” as part of the day-long Iconic Textiles program. Bayer spoke on Marguerita’s career and her 1930s table linens that were revolutionary in their bold colors and unusual subject matter.
“Joyful Designs: Rediscovering the Textiles of Marguerita Mergentime”
Modernism Week, February 2020
A presentation by Virginia Bayer, granddaughter of textile designer Marguerita Mergentime, whose textiles reshaped the sensibility of the 20th-century home at a time when modernism was being defined.