Ruth Adler Schnee (néeAdler; May 13, 1923 – January 5, 2023) was a German-born American textile designer and interior designer based in Michigan. Schnee was best known for her modern prints and abstract-patterns of organic and geometric forms.[1] She opened the Ruth Adler-Schnee Design Studio with her spouse Edward Schnee in Detroit, which operated until 1960. The studio produced textiles and later branched off into Adler-Schnee Associates home decor, interiors, and furniture.[2][3]
In 1948, she married Edward Schnee,[10]aYale University graduate in economics and he helped her grow her business. Together they opened the Adler Schnee home store in Detroit.[11]
Adler Schnee was awarded The Kresge Foundation's 2015 Kresge Eminent Artist Award for lifetime achievement in her introduction of post-war modernism to the Detroit area.[5][13]
Adler Schnee died on January 5, 2023, at the age of 99.[14]
The Chicago Tribune Design for Better Living competition that she won was to design a modern house. Adler Schnee's design was a box of glass and steel, with large windows. Needing draperies for the windows, she sketched out, on the spur of the moment, an abstract pattern. An architectural firm contacted her, wanting to purchase such draperies, but they didn't actually exist.[15] She learned how to silk screen, but it was only after she met her husband that she was able expand her printing operation. At this time, textiles were changing from simply decoration to a way of expressing modern design.[15] She was inspired in her textile design by the natural world (Seedy Weeds, 1953) and the built world (Construction, 1950). As a part of their partnership, her husband named all of her textiles. They started their store, Adler Schnee, shortly after their marriage. It featured Adler Schnee's bold, modern textiles and furniture designed by their friends, Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, and more. Later, they also showcased and sold items from Scandinavian design firms such as Dansk, Marimekko, and Orrefors.[15]
The Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research holds the Edward and Ruth Adler Schnee Papers, acquired in 2010. The Cranbrook Art Museum received a large collection of her textiles in 2021 from Adler Schnee and her husband.[8]
^Bernard, Murrye (October 2013). "New Classics: KnollTextiles collaborates with architect and textile designer Ruth Adler Schnee on a healthcare fabric collection". Contract. 54 (8): 32 – via EBSCOhost.
^ abcdef"Ruth Adler Schnee". Michigan Modern. Michigan State Historic Preservation Office. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
