Melanie Kahane (1910–1988) was an American interior designer and 1985 inductee of the Interior Design Hall of Fame. She was first recognized in the design world as the pioneer of one of the first colored kitchen appliances: a shiny red stove. This move kick-started her reputation as a designer of boldly colored rooms, although she spotted early the possibilities of television for promoting design. Throughout her career she became one of the most notable high-end designers in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was most influential as a designer from the 1940s to the 1960s, although her career lasted half a century.

Personal life

Melanie Kahane was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1910. Shortly after, her family moved to

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into northern Lincoln County. The population was 192 ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

. This is where the majority of her upbringing took place. She attended high school in Hackettstown,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. She then attended

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

in 1928, where she studied

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has varied over time and place. "A fashion design ...

and

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

. She graduated in 1931. After graduation, she spent a year as an illustrator at an advertising agency, followed by a brief period in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and with

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was an American department store chain founded in 1826 by Samuel Lord. It had 86 full-line stores in the Northeastern United States at its peak in the 2000s, and 38 locations at the time of its liquidation in 2021. The Lord & Tay ...

. She married her first husband, Theodore Ebenstein, in 1934. By 1945 she and Ebenstein had one daughter, and divorced shortly thereafter. At this time, she was on her way to transitioning from a fashion illustrator to an interior designer. Her former husband leased her office space to use for her interior design firm. By the early 1950s, another marriage had come and gone, and she met her third husband,

Ben Grauer Benjamin Franklin Grauer (June 2, 1908 – May 31, 1977) was an American radio and television personality, following a career during the 1920s as a child actor in films and on Broadway. He began his career as a child in David Warfield's productio ...

, a prominent radio commentator on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. Kahane and Grauer hosted a radio show called ''Decorating Wavelengths''. This show combined design and media commitments in order to inform the public on current news and advice. In this time period, she was called “New York’s most photogenic decorator,” it was also said that “she had a sophisticated design flair and was exceptionally good with the details of a room,” by Wynn Hershey of Mike Bell Antiques.

Career

Melanie Kahane came into the spotlight in 1946 when she designed one of the first colored kitchen appliances: a shiny red stove. In the course of her long career, she designed everything from light bulbs to hotels, theaters, and studio apartments. Her clients admired her for her glamorous designs, as well as for her charming and energetic personality. She produced many of her famous works in the home she shared with Grauer. Besides her work in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, she also was on the design team for the

1958 World's Fair Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (; ), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau Internatio ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and did work for NBC in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1985, she was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame. In her half a century working as an interior designer, she designed for such celebrities as

Alan King Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kniberg; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American comedian, actor and satirist known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of films and televi ...

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach ( ; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. Known for his character actor roles, his entertainment career spanned over six decades. He received a British Aca ...

, and

John Chancellor John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in television news. Chancellor served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to ...

. Houses she designed include

Billy Rose Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman, lyricist and columnist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainm ...

’s William G. Loew mansion on East Ninety-Third Street, and one for producer

Joseph E. Levine Joseph Edward Levine (September 9, 1905 – July 31, 1987) was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the ...

, Amon Carter,

W. T. Grant W. T. Grant or Grants was a United States–based chain of mass-merchandise stores founded by William Thomas Grant that operated from 1906 until 1976. The stores were generally of the variety store format located in downtowns. History In 1906 t ...

and Anne Tandy. Other notable projects include the design of Shubert theaters in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and New York, beauty salons throughout the United States for

Charles of the Ritz Charles of the Ritz is a former cosmetics brand known for its line of perfumes. History In 1916, hairdresser Charles Jundt took over the Manhattan beauty salon of the New York City Ritz (later the Ritz-Carlton) hotel. He founded his own cosmetics ...

and the headquarters for the First National Bank of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. Kahane died of lung cancer in her home in December of 1988. In the same year, Parsons School of Design hosted a dinner in her honor, and established a student scholarship in her name. The school applauded her business acumen and her design abilities. Jeremiah Goodman expressed that, “Melanie was a true professional and was very good about finances, but it wasn’t just business with her. Decorating was a passion.”S. Stephens, “Evolution of a classic.” ''Architectural Digest'', 1989. Vol. 46, Issue 11.

References

Additional references

*"Sunday spent relaxing way: staying in bed," ''The Globe and Mail'', October 25, 1979. *"Entertainment will fill home, designer says," ''The Globe and Mail'', May 1, 1981. *Enid Nemy, "New Yorkers, etc." ''The New York Times'', July 20, 1983. *Bernadine Morris, "Shoppers: Harried but Chic," ''The New York Times'', December 20, 1983. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahane, Melanie American interior designers 1910 births 1988 deaths