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I nterior designer Emily Summers' conversion to modernism started in her teens. It was the 1960s in Kansas City, Missouri, where she lived in a modest Tudor tastefully decorated by her mother, a museum volunteer with a discerning eye. "I grew up in a toile- and-porcelain environment," Summers says. But when a Knoll catalog with its bright-orange cover made its way into the household, a vibrant new world opened up. "It featured the gorgeous Mies van der Rohe Barcelona pieces, set in a terraced apartment in Paris with high windows and molding. I loved the clean look, and I realized you could make something fresh by adding contemporary furniture to a traditional environment. It transformed my whole way of thinking." Summers moved to Dallas in the mid- 1960s to study art history at Southern Methodist University. Later, while doing post-graduate work, she became a full- time assistant in the fashion offices at Neiman Marcus, where she was mentored by Stanley Marcus. She married college sweetheart Steve Summers and spent a decade rearing a family. (Her son, Stephen Summers, and his wife, Elisa Summers, co-own Highland Park Village with Ray and Heather Washburne.) In her spare time, Summers took interior design courses in London and design classes at Harvard University's summer school program. "But there is nothing like the practicality of learning on the job," she says. Summers opened her design firm in 1979 with Bess Enloe, who had co- chaired the Junior League Ball with her in the past. Contemporary high-rises and houses were going up in Dallas, but the city remained a bastion of traditional design. "There was really no one else doing modern interiors here when I started," she says. "The appreciation of contemporary architecture and design was slow in coming." Her first job was for the husband of a good friend, who hired her to do the interiors of his law offices. The client loved the Knoll-influenced environment she created for him — but not everyone understood it. When a sleek flannel-covered sofa was delivered to the office, his secretary wondered if Summers had forgotten to upholster it. Summers traveled to Paris and New York on buying trips. "I discovered a whole school of design from the '30s and '40s that revolved around Jean-Michel Frank," she says. "You could buy original furniture from that era, so I started putting together collections for clients." Today, she is one of the most sought-after interior designers in the country, known for incorporating important 20th-century furnishings with museum-worthy modern art. Her high-profile clients have included Sally Rosen, Lupe Murchison, and Ross and Sarah Perot Jr. For Deedie Rose and her late husband, Rusty Rose, Summers collaborated with architect Antoine Predock; the four-year project, completed in 2007, was published in The New York Times and received numerous national awards. It established Summers as a preeminent designer and landed her on Architectural Digest's AD 100 list — a distinction she's held every year since. She is currently working on the interiors for A MOST MODERN CHAPTER INTERIOR DESIGNER EMILY SUMMERS STARTS THE YEAR WITH A SLEEK PAGE- TURNER MORE THAN 35 YEARS IN THE MAKING. REBECCA SHERMAN TAKES A READ. A seating area in Emily Summers' home near Palm Springs with Qing dynasty screen and horseshoe-back chair attributed to James Mont. 60