Drawing, Grace’s Garden, © March 10, 1972, Designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920–2011) for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. (Key West, Florida), Brush and watercolor, graphite on cream paper, 38.2 × 56.2 cm (15 1/16 × 22 1/8 in.), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of The Original I.P. LLC, 5891.5.2018, Photo: Matt Flynn © The Original I.P. LLC
Suzie Zuzek's whimsical fabric designs shaped fashion trends in the 1960s and 1970s. Fashion designer Lily Pulitzer used this fabric in many of her most iconic outfits.
Zuzek studied textile design and illustration at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated at the top of her class. After she spent three years working in New York, she moved to Key West, Florida, where her husband had grown up.
Suzie Zuzek, drawing All Florida II, at Key West Hand Print Fabrics, late 1960s. Behind Zuzek is her drawing Double Glow, 1969.
Between 1962 and 1985, Zuzek created over 1,500 designs for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc.—more than anyone else at the company. She drew these designs using watercolors, pen, pencil, and ink. Then the designs, often featuring vivid flowers and animals, were turned into fabrics.
Key West Hand Print Fabrics workshop with three 60 yard tables for hand-screen printing, 1960s. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Zuzek's designs became popular when Pulitzer used Key West Hand Print Fabrics to create colorful, simple sportwear. Fashionable celebrities including actress Audrey Hepburn and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy wore Pulitzer designs. But most people wearing Pulitzer fashions did not know Zuzek's name. This is not uncommon, as fabric designers often go uncredited for their work.
These prints and others will be part of the upcoming exhibition Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints That Made the Fashion Brand at our Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The exhibition is on view now through Sunday, January 2, 2022.
Drawing, Puffins, © January 22, 1981, Designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920–2011) for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. (Key West, Florida), Used by Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., before 1985 (Palm Beach, Florida), Brush and watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on paper, 24.4 × 19.1 cm (10 × 7 1/2 in.), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of The Original I.P. LLC, 5891.4.2018, Photo: Matt Flynn © The Original I.P. LLC
Drawing, The Reef, © June 12, 1979, Designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920–2011) for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. (Key West, Florida), Used by Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., before 1985 (Palm Beach, Florida), Brush and watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on white paper, 38.1 × 34.3 cm (15 × 13 1/2 in.), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of The Original I.P. LLC, 5891.1.2018, Photo: Matt Flynn, © The Original I.P. LLC
Drawing, Wildness, © September 11, 1972, Designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920–2011) for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. (Key West, Florida), Used by Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., before 1985 (Palm Beach, Florida), Brush and watercolor, pen and black ink, graphite on paper, 38.1 × 56.2 cm (15 × 22 1/8 in.), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of The Original I.P. LLC, 5891.6.2018, Photo: Matt Flynn © The Original I.P. LLC
Drawing, Grace’s Garden, © March 10, 1972, Designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920–2011) for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. (Key West, Florida), Brush and watercolor, graphite on cream paper, 38.2 × 56.2 cm (15 1/16 × 22 1/8 in.), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of The Original I.P. LLC, 5891.5.2018, Photo: Matt Flynn © The Original I.P. LLC
Drawing, Rhino, © January 21, 1977, Designed by Suzie Zuzek (Agnes Helen Zuzek de Poo, American, 1920–2011) for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. (Key West, Florida), Used by Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., before 1985 (Palm Beach, Florida), Brush and green watercolor, white gouache, pen and black ink, graphite on paper, 38.1 × 28.4 cm (15 × 11 3/16 in.), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of The Original I.P. LLC, 5891.2.2018, Photo: Matt Flynn, © The Original I.P. LLC
To learn more about Zuzek and how to design your own repeating pattern, check out Design It Yourself: Design a Repeating Pattern Inspired by Suzie Zuzek.