Candace Wheeler (née Thurber; March 24, 1827 – August 5, 1923) was an American interior and textile designer. Traditionally credited as the mother of interior design, she was one of the first women to work as an interior designer in the United States and was a leading authority on home decoration in the 19th century.
Wheeler helped open the field of interior design to women, supported craftswomen, and promoted American design reform. A committed feminist, she intentionally employed women and encouraged their education, especially in the fine and applied arts, and fostered home industries for rural women. She also did editorial work and wrote several books and many articles, encompassing fiction, semi-fiction and non-fiction, for adults and children.
She was a co-founder of the Society of Decorative Art in New York City (1877) and the New York Exchange for Women's Work (1878), and her own firm, The Associated Artists (1883–1907). Louis Comfort Tiffany was a frequent collaborator, specializing in textiles (1879–1883).
Throughout her career Wheeler contributed to the Colonial Revival, the Aesthetic Movement and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and also designed the interior of the Women's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
