Marie Creamer, Textile Designer, Dies

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/7/2007 12:00:00 AM

West Palm Beach, Fla. —

Noted textile designer Marie Creamer, 94, died peacefully at her home in the Wellington area of West Palm Beach, Florida on Aug. 4.

Creamer was a design force in the rug industry for nearly 50 years, principally as a freelance designer for Regal Rugs, and later for Newmark. Her designs were instrumental in building and maintaining Regal Rugs' strength in the market. Discovered by Eli Coplan, founder of Regal, Creamer was responsible for many innovative designs and technical changes which earned her recognition from the American Institute of Interior Design.

As design director for Regal she established cooperative relationships with well-known designers including Bill Hinz, Pierre Cardin, Nell Znamierowski, Eleen Auvil, Katja Geiger (Katja of Sweden), Larry Peabody, Ellen and Hank Kluck (EllenHank Designs) and Judy Douglas.

Howard Lickerman, former president of Regal Rugs remembered, "Marie was a great and gracious lady with an innate talent to sense style and the market's direction. Marie's ideas contributed mightily to bringing the organization to life. Her designs were copied worldwide. Marie, through her innovations, created a niche in the market for Regal and then enlisted other talented designers to add their designs."

A deeply spiritual person, Marie was also a liberated woman before her time, though she was unaware of it. In fact, she used to quip to friends, "I think I'd like to be the pampered woman." She was that.

Her only son, Charles, died in the Vietnam War. She leaves behind a family of beloved friends.