Miriam Wornum [also known as Miriam Alice Gerstle Wornum] was born Miriam Alice Gerstle in San Francisco, California on 9 March 1898 and attended the Art Association School in San Francisco. By 1919 she had a studio in New York City. In c.1920 she moved to England and settled in London where she met and in 1923 married the architect George Grey Wornum (1888-1957). She subsequently collaborated with her husband on a number of his projects, including the painting of murals for the Lutyens Room and Library of the Royal Institute of British Architects' building at 66 Portland Place in London designed by him in 1934. Together they also contributed to the decoration of the ocean liner S.S. Queen Elizabeth, launched in 1938, for which she created mosaic designs for the swimming pool.
From the 1930s Miriam Wornum designed textiles and wallpaper patterns for a number of manufacturers. A photograph of 'Pony', a glazed chintz fabric, designed by her and produced by Edinburgh Weavers is illustrated in 'Decorative Art' 1939 (p.139). Examples of her designs for Warner & Sons and Edinburgh Weavers are also illustrated in 'British Textile Designers Today' by H.G. Hayes Marshall (Leigh-on-Sea, England: F. Lewis Ltd., 1939 p. 309).
She exhibited at Arthur Cooling & Sons Gallery in London in the 1930s and participated in the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris in 1937. She died in San Francisco, California on 15 March 1989
The RIBA Library, London has a collection of Miriam Wornum's drawings.
Oman, Charles C. and Hamilton, Jean. Wallpapers: a history and illustrated catalogue of the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: Sotheby Publications in Association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982
Wornum, Miriam. ‘The interior: living rooms and bedrooms’ in The Book of the Modern House: A Panoramic Survey of Contemporary Domestic Design. Edited by Patrick Abercrombie. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1939 pp. 317-336