At the age of 16, Broadhurst won a singing contest and began performing throughout Queensland. By the time she was in her 20s, she was performing in India, Southeast Asia and China.
In 1926 she opened the Broadhurst Academy in Shanghai, offering lessons in dance, music and journalism. When she tired of this, she moved to moved to London, married Percy Walker Gladstone Kann, a stockbroker, and in the early 1930s opened a dress salon under the name of Madame Pellier.
Her marriage to Kann was brief, and in 1939 she married her second husband, Leonard Lloyd Lewis, a diesel engineer, with whom she had one son. In 1949, the Lewis family moved to Australia, settling in Sydney, at which time she passed herself off as a member of the British aristocracy. She took up painting and had solo exhibits in the 1950s.
At the same time, she became involved in charity and fundraising activities, but by the early 1960s, Lewis moved away from the family, leaving Florence to run a small car dealership. In 1959 she had opened a small studio behind the car dealership where she designed and manufactured wallpaper for local customers.
By 1969 she had expanded her operations and had developed processes that allowed her designs to be mass-produced. She began exporting to North America, England, Hawaii, Kuwait, Peru, Norway and Paris, and by 1972 she was enjoying international acclaim. Her line included over 800 designs in 80 different colorways, many of which are considered iconic. (On a personal note, Broadhurst's designs were so popular in the United States that I remember almost all the designs I've shown below. I actually lived in an apartment with Bamboo Lattice wallpaper.)
In 1977, at the age of 78, Broadhurst was brutally murdered in her studio. The killer was never found.
From florencebroadhurst.com.au, adb.anu.edu.au and smh.com.au
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| Japanese Fans innovationwa.com |
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| Honeycomb indulgy.com |
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| Turnabouts interiorz.com.au |
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| Japanese Bamboo theelephantroom.com.au |
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| Brushed Trellis wallpaperaustralia.com.au |
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| Pagoda materialised.com |
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| Bamboo Lattice mylusciouslife.com |
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| Circles and Squares signatureprints.com.au |
What a legend is Florence! - the film "Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst" is a must see.... and the book "Florence Broadhurst, Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives" is a must have. Her wallpaper was just about everywhere and in every lifestyle magazine in the 1970s I remember......but such a sad and tragic end. Its good to see her designs are still in use, many are just timeless.
ReplyDeleteI was fascinated by her life story. She must have been quite a woman!
DeleteYay! An Ausie design legend on mid2mod! Flo was a bit of a super-star! Never a dull moment in her life that's for sure!I have seen the doco Ray mentioned and it's brilliant. Try and watch it if you can.
ReplyDeleteI thought a post about an Australian luminary might get you Land Down Under folks off Instagram and back to blogland, if only for a few minutes! haha Seriously, I want to see the documentary on Broadhurst, and I'd like to read the book too. She sounds like quite a pistol!
DeleteI love her work! In the late '70's, I had a wallpaper very similar to the Japanese bamboo design in my foyer. I've seen the documentary mentioned by Ray Garrod and I agree that it's a 'must-see'! Haven't read the book yet. It's on my lengthy TBR list. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, that Japanese Bamboo pattern was very popular here in the U.S. I remember seeing it in homes and offices all over the place.
DeleteWhat an extraordinary woman, and all her wallpaper designs look familiar. The Turnabout paper adorned one wall of my doctor's surgery; I thought it looked so chic!
ReplyDeleteI remember her designs being popular in many dentists' and doctors' offices too.
DeleteShe was indeed a legend, but also a prize bitch by the sounds of things, reading between the lines!
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