In 1883 Wheeler formed her own firm, Associated Artists, which produced both hand-wrought and machine-made textiles and was staffed entirely by women.Īrtistically, Wheeler had begun by taking as her model the accomplishments of advanced British designers such as William Morris and Walter Crane. Wheeler was acquainted with leading figures in the New York art world and, as a textile specialist, went into partnership with Louis Comfort Tiffany in an interior design firm the company was commissioned to decorate lavish interiors for the Seventh Regiment Armory, the Union League Club, and the homes of wealthy New Yorkers. The organization offered instruction in the applied arts to women and helped them sell their work, providing them some measure of economic independence. Inspired by the embroideries produced by England's Royal School of Art Needlework, which she saw at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, Wheeler founded the Society of Decorative Art in New York.
Candace Wheeler (1827–1923) changed the course of textile and interior design in the nineteenth century America and was a driving force behind the professionalization of women in the design field.
