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certain objects and images which I had skimmed over, in particular a large blue printed diagram of the 'average' woman, complete with measurements, from which the standardized dimensions of fitted kitchens and appliances in the 1950s were derived. Juliet stressed that the purpose of the exhibition was not purely to highlight women as professional designers, but to pinpoint the ways in which images and perceptions of women, fluctuating throughout the last century, poured into the minds and hands of all designers, male or female. Christopher was especially taken by the small ceramic works of potters such as Lucie Rie, in their whiteness delicate as shells, and of Otto and Gertrud Natzler, in particular three diminutive vessels in red, blue and yellow respectively, the primary colors beloved of Mondrian. If women in the 20th century did not predominate as architects, certainly as collaborators and patrons they inspired some of the era's signal buildings, one of the most influential being Gerrit Rietveld's compact yet revolutionary design, in Utrecht, of the Rietveld Schroeder house for Truus Schroeder, a Dutch socialite and trained pharmacist closely involved with the avant-garde artists and architects of the De Stijl movement. Christopher, Juliet and I spoke of many things, but above all the primacy of design in our own lives and its effect upon civilization at large. Whether one studies the decorative arts at university, auction house, design school or on one's own, we agreed that design is society's figure in the carpet, a force that, at its best, seeks to unify and include absolutely everyone: nobody's life, whatever their economic status, should be untouched by design. Whatever is designed, from a utopian kitchen in a housing project to a folding paper bag to a gilded Baroque settee (see the Campana Brothers article in this issue) contributes HYLAND