Mary White

Mary White, (born Mary Laidley Mort) in 1912, in Mount Morgan, Queensland, Australia was a designer and crafts adviser. In 1932 she married Rupert Vivian White in Sydney, Australia. In 1950 she began her career with Russell Roberts as a freelance designer. A year later she was one of the founding members of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia. In 1954 she opened a shop in Edgecliff, selling custom furniture made from her own drawings. Commissions include: Australian Consolidated Press House in Canberra Sydney Morning Herald Office office of James Fairfax Senate conference room at University of Sydney A.M.A. conference room Weston's biscuit factory at Camperdown, and A special design for General Motors Holden In 1961 she converted the shop to the Mary White School of Art. The school taught about colour and the skills of an interior decorator. A full design course was offered and public lectures were held in the evenings. For the next two years, to manage the running costs of the school, she worked as a consultant and conducted a series of public lectures on Art History and Modern Art, with H.D. Nicholson and H.G. Kaplan.