Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1950

  • Work on this object began.

1960

  • Work on this object ended.

2021

2023

2025

  • You found it!

Textile, Lurex Porcelain Colors Sampler

This is a Textile. It was designed by Dorothy Wright Liebes and made for (as the client) Dobeckmun Company.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from National Museum of American History as part of A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

It is dated ca. 1955. Its medium is cotton, rayon, lurex, man-made straw. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


Liebes wove this color sampler to promote the Porcelain Colors range of Lurex yarns she developed for "subdued shimmer in decorative fabrics." Titled Birthday Party, it combined all six of the delicate pastel tints with subtle stripes of gold metallic and looped fringe. It was featured in the "The Thread of the Story is Lurex" ad campaign, accompanied by fine white porcelain objects.

It is credited Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 224.8 × 100.3 cm (7 ft. 4 1/2 in. × 39 1/2 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805415/ |title=Textile, Lurex Porcelain Colors Sampler |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=7 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>