UPR professor to highlight forgotten legacy of interior design pioneer
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
By THE STAR STAFF
As she prepares for her presentation this Thursday, University of Puerto Rico (UPR)-Carolina Prof. Joemi Burgos Díaz says her goal is clear: to bring overdue recognition to Angélica Figueroa de Valldejuli, the founder of Puerto Rico’s first specialized school of interior design and a largely overlooked figure whose influence extended far beyond the island.
In an interview, Burgos explained that her ongoing, unpublished research reveals a significant gap in the historical study of interior design in Puerto Rico.
“Interior design in Puerto Rico has not been studied,” she noted. “We study what has come to us from Europe and the United States.”
But Puerto Rico’s development diverged from those traditions, she added, because the local practice originated within the field of home economics.
Burgos traced this unique history to Figueroa de Valldejuli, who transformed interior design education in the 1950s by establishing the first independent specialized school on the island. What had previously been taught as part of home economics at UPR -- color theory, furniture distribution, and other basic skills -- became institutionalized under Figueroa de Valldejuli’s leadership.
“She graduated the first interior decorators in Puerto Rico,” Burgos said, noting that Figueroa de Valldejuli’s work filled a void in local architectural and design history dominated by references to European movements such as the Bauhaus.
Figueroa de Valldejuli, who studied in New York and traveled widely through the United States, Europe and Latin America, introduced influences that do not appear in standard design textbooks.
One of Burgos’ main objectives for her Thursday talk is to highlight how Figueroa de Valldejuli helped transform the lives of Puerto Rican women during the mid‑20th century.
“In the 1950s, when women didn’t have the resources we have now, she took many women out of their homes so they could earn a living and support their families,” Burgos emphasized. Former students frequently thanked Figueroa de Valldejuli for enabling them to survive difficult moments.
Her influence also reached other countries. Directors of interior design programs from Panama, Colombia and Venezuela traveled to Puerto Rico to study at Figueroa de Valldejuli’s school and later adapted the model in their home nations.
Although Figueroa de Valldejuli never published a manual defining a “Puerto Rican style,” Burgos found correspondence showing that the designer was already considering how to develop one. This was years before the founding of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in 1955 and before the formal studies on criollo aesthetics that would later emerge.
“Even though those studies didn’t exist yet, she emphasized the importance of studying history and culture,” Burgos said.
Her students traveled not only across the island but also to the Dominican Republic and Europe, broadening their cultural and technical exposure.
When asked how she interprets a Puerto Rican design aesthetic, Burgos said the question remains complex.
People often default to folklore or traditional imagery, she explained, but Puerto Rico’s identity is more layered. Rather than fixed colors or colonial‑era furniture, she believes the defining element of Puerto Rican design should be how it responds to the climate -- ventilation, humidity, materials, and the lived reality of the tropics.
“The most important thing about a Puerto Rican design is that it aligns with the climate we have,” she said.
High humidity, for example, makes pure cotton textiles impractical because they absorb moisture and generate mold. Blends with synthetics often perform better. Likewise, many modern condominiums rely on sealed glass windows or guillotine-style frames that prevent cross‑ventilation, worsening condensation and indoor air quality.
Traditional louvered windows, also known as Miami windows, sometimes dismissed as outdated, remain among the most effective for tropical climates, Burgos said.
Beyond her contributions to interior design, Figueroa de Valldejuli was involved in prominent women’s organizations, such as the Círculo Porcia and the American Woman’s Society, and accompanied Puerto Rico’s first Miss Universe contestant in 1947.
She taught English and literature before studying interior decoration in the United States and later served as the first madrina of the ROTC program at UPR, a detail Burgos found particularly striking.
Figueroa de Valldejuli also collaborated with cultural leader Ricardo Alegría, who offered workshops and lectures on Puerto Rican history and art to members of her design clubs and associations.
Burgos hopes that her presentation encourages the public to value Figueroa de Valldejuli’s role in shaping design education and empowering women -- and to appreciate a part of Puerto Rico’s cultural history that has long gone unrecognized.
Burgos’ talk is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday in the Sala de Teleconferencias on the second floor of the UPR-Carolina Library.