Called “the 20th century’s most influential female interior designer,” Sister Parish started her firm that became Parish Hadley back in 1933. Now, four generations later, literally, the company is thriving with the founder’s great-granddaughter Eliza Crater Harris serving as Chief Creative Officer of Sister Parish Design. A St. Andrews graduate in art history and international relations, Harris grew up drawn to design. “The business of home, interior design, houses, was always a topic in my house. I think it’s really in my blood,” she says. After a decade of creating products and sets and arranging magazine shoots, in 2019, she signed on to oversee the firm’s goal of preserving and updating its classic textiles and wallpapers. She has always wanted to live in the country and resides with her husband and two toddlers near the company offices in Litchfield in a white clapboard house with a keepsake caged wooden bird that once hung in her great-grandmother’s Fifth Avenue apartment.
What are your memories of your great-grandmother?
I was only four when she passed. There are photographs, pictures of me swimming in the cove in Maine. I look at them and think I remember, but I was really quite young. It’s the values and things she left behind, the way things are done, that we inherited.
How do you define the firm’s iconic American Country Style?
It’s a combination of high and low, luxury grounded in reality. It incorporates important art and luxurious upholstery with crafts, baskets and outsider art. It showcases who you are and makes people feel welcome.
Your mother resurrected the firm in 2000 as CEO, and your father is CFO. What role do you play?
I design all the products, connecting all the designers, working with the artists and production, creating images for photo shoots—marketing and storytelling.
How do the current patterns integrate with the historically beloved textiles and wallpapers Parish Hadley devised?
We are a heritage brand, tried and true—you know what to expect. But my job is to riff on that and be responsive to the way people are living today. Innovation is being able to reach back into the past for what is good that allows you to break the rules today.
How is the collection updated?
It all evolves from the core patterns. There are certain values and ideas, not to replicate the past, but to incorporate the feeling of the work my great-grandmother did. When I look at the new ones, I want to be sure that they can be mixed and matched with the existing ones. I may fill a hole in the well-rounded collection—for instance the Godfather pattern. We needed a solid at a good price point, carefully woven, in beautiful colors, for people who wanted value but didn’t want to splurge.
What are some contemporary demands?
We have to be responsive to the way people live today. Our manufacturer MTL makes threads from recycled bottles: They’re sustainable, repel stains, allow people to upholster their sofas and not worry as much. Classic hand-screen prints like Albert and Burma can be more performance woven, which is more affordable.
Beyond design, what matters?
American craftsmanship is important, how it is made is as important as the design. My great-grandmother relied on the makers and artisans. So we really focus on how things are made, it’s very collaborative.
What are the frictions of working in a family business?
Actually, working with my mom is the fun part. A lot of people don’t get to spend as much time with their parents. You find a different side of your family you might not see. My mom was a criminal defense lawyer, an amazing writer. I see her ability to lead.
What décor mistakes do people make?
People shouldn’t rush. It takes a lot of time. You’ll be happier if you enjoy the process. Designers can guide you and help you choose and spend wisely and educate you on different ways to live. Don’t be afraid to express yourself.
What is your personal favorite pattern?
I love La Fortuna. It’s an ombre stripe, looks like peacock feathers. It comes in tons of colors so you can mix and match it.
Sister Parish helped Jackie Kennedy decorate the White House. What would be your suggestions for the new ballroom?
I’d try to make people feel comfortable there. It’s rarefied and expensive. I’d make it cozy with quilts, baskets of flowers, unexpected patterns.
