Emily Summers

Emily Summers (born 1945), is an American interior designer. She is president and CEO of Emily Summers Design Associates. Beginning her design career in 1979, she became known for her collaboration with architects and artists along with the collection, commission, and architectural installation of fine art into projects. Her firm, Emily Summers Design Associates, has been recognized for using unexpected materials, creating custom pieces for each project, and combining them with 20th-century furniture and decorative objects for clients. Summers is also recognized for her involvement in urban planning, museums and fine art, higher education, and historic preservation.

Biography Emily Rich Summers was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1945. She received a Fashion Merchandising scholarship and attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. In 1966, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SMU. Later, she continued her education by completing five more years (1975–1980) of Post Graduate studies in Art History. During her studies at SMU, she worked at the fashion offices at Neiman Marcus. The residence was featured in the 2012 book, The Iconic House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1900, by Dominic Bradbury. Architectural Digest has described her work as possessing “clarity of vision” and her interiors as “luxurious yet restrained.”

Early in her career, Summers was asked to join Antoine Predock to design the interior for a new residence on Turtle Creek in Dallas. Since the Turtle Creek Residence with Antione Predock, Summers’ work has been distinguished through her collaboration with noted architects.

Current projects include collaborations with Appleton & Associates, Lake/Flato, Werner Field, the renovation of a 1978 home by Enslie “Bud” Oglesby with Chad Dorsey, and a project in Johnson-Fain's Museum Tower. Most recently her firm completed a full renovation with Good Fulton and Farrell of a 30,000 square foot private office in the iconic Highland Park Village, the 1931 buildings by Fooshee and Cheek. Other past collaborations include the Rey Rosa Ranch with architects Coleman Coker and the late Samuel Mockbee and a Horseshoe Bay residence with Overland Partners.

Summers’ firm has also collaborated with Lake/Flato on multiple projects, including the Murchison Estate for the late arts patron, Lupe Murchison. Architect Larry Speck and Summers renovated a 1970 Turtle Creek residence by Enslie “Bud” Oglesby.

Summers also restored the Perkins Chapel at Southern Methodist University with Good Fulton and Farrell and the Academic Research Center at The Hockaday School with Overland Partners Architects. Private-residences, include the two penthouse units at the Victory Park development in Dallas: The W Hotel Penthouse in 2007 and, with MORE design+build, The House Penthouse in 2011.

In February 2010, Summers enlisted architect Jessica Stewart-Lendvay to restore a 1968 home consisting of completely circular structures in Colorado Springs, the renovation was featured on the cover of Architectural Digest.

Consultation She has been actively involved with the Dallas Museum of Art for over thirty-six years, where she served as a design consultant for its Horchow Auditorium with architect Gluckman Mayner. She held a staff position as director of Exhibitions and Fundraising from 1989 to 1992, and currently serves on the Building Committee.

The Camp House, completed in 1938 by architect John Staub, was originally the 8,500 square foot home of Alex Camp and Roberta Coke Camp. These two projects were awarded by the Preservation Dallas and by the American Society of Interior Designers Texas Chapter for their achievement in adaptive reuse.

Art and design collections Summers has a 36-year affiliation with the Dallas Museum of Art and is a member of the Architecture and Design Council at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Her expertise in the international art market, cultivated through yearly visits to art shows, dealers, and galleries globally, has established her signature approach as an interior designer. Her integration of fine art and applied arts has been widely recognized. In 2001 and 2002, she received the Texas Society of Architects Residential Design Awards, and in 2003 she received the Texas Society of Landscape Architects Merit Award.

In 2012, she was selected to the Architectural Digest "AD 100" Best Architects and Interior Designers of the World.

Books Benedikt, Michael L. Overland Partners: Building on Values. Milan, L'Arca Edizione, 2002 Gura, Judith. House Beautiful: Lighting. New York: Hearst Books, 2002. Hollingsworth, Andrew. Danish Modern. Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2008. Medford, Sarah. At Home with Town & Country. New York: Hearst Books, 2010. Predock, Antoine. Turtle Creek House. New York: Monacelli Press, Inc., 1998. Trulove, James Grayson and Kim II, eds., The New American House 3. New York: Watson Guptill Publications. 2001. The Iconic House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1900.