Mr. Daren sketches, circa 1940-1949

Shortly after attending the Wolfe School of Costume Designing in Los Angeles in 1941, Daren Pierce spent time serving in the US armed forces, first in Farragut, Idaho and later at the Naval Training Station on Yerba Buena Island, just off of San Francisco, where he worked in the Office of Discipline. In his spare time, Pierce designed entire seasonal collections of day, college, evening and bridal wear, sketching in pencil, watercolor and marker. In 1945, after the completion of his wartime duties, Pierce presented his work to Dorothy Liebes and she hired him as a textile designer. In the early 1950s, Pierce was employed by the interior and industrial design firm William Pahlmann Associates in New York City, and he became frequently sought out by the press as an authority on interior design. By the 1960s Pierce had been elected President of the American Institute of Decorators, and in this capacity he led design professionals and enthusiasts on tours to study the aesthetics of cultures abroad. In 1965, Pierce, who by now often went simply as “Mr. Daren,” challenged traditional gender roles by opening a high-end needlepoint shop, Woolworks, on Madison Avenue. He went on to publish four books he co-authored on the subjects of needlepoint and the art of mixed cocktails. Pierce died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday, January 29, 1984 at the age of 61.