Background
Born Dorothy Wright on October 14, 1897, in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Frederick L. Wright, a chemistry professor, and Bessie Calderwood Wright, a teacher.
Born Dorothy Wright on October 14, 1897, in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Frederick L. Wright, a chemistry professor, and Bessie Calderwood Wright, a teacher.
After several years as a schoolteacher, Liebes decided to become a textile designer, and studied weaving at Hull House, Chicago, and made study trips to France, Italy, Guatemala, and Mexico to learn about traditional weaving forms.
She was known as "the mother of modern weaving". While studying anthropology, art, and teaching at San Jose State Teacher"s College and at the University of California, Berkeley, she was advised to experiment with textile design. She bought a small portable loom and taught herself how to weave.
They divorced in 1940, although Dorothy Liebes retained his surname professionally.
By 1938 she had seventeen men and women working in her studio. Following demand, she opened a second studio in New New York
She relocated full-time to New York in 1948. Her fabrics were known for their bold colour combinations and interesting textures, and often used unexpected materials such as feathers, plastics, metallics, jute, ticker tape, leather strips, and bamboo.
They were commissioned by architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Durell Stone, Miller and Pflueger and Samuel Marx.
Other clients included King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, and the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California. Her textiles were also used in airplanes, ocean liners, theatres and hotels. Liebes was a design consultant for companies such as DuPont, Dow, Bigelow-Sanford, and Goodall Fabrics of Sanford, Maine.
A promoter of textile mass-production, she advised on the development of synthetic fibres, and assisted in the development of machinery that could replicate the aesthetic irregularities and unevenesses of hand-loomed fabrics.
From 1955 to 1971 Liebes acted as DuPont"s home furnishings consultant. As a spokesperson for the company, she helped the general public overcome adversities to synthetic fabrics.
Her work is held in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. and The Art Institute of Chicago.