[1] She founded the fashion brand Design-Thai, worked in India producing textiles and wrote and illustrated children's books including Nu Dang and His Kite, A Wish for Little Sister and A Paper Flower Tree.
[citation needed] From there she was introduced to Christian Dior and Michel de Brunhoff, the editor of Vogue Paris, who helped to support her and develop her work.
[6] She moved back to New York in 1953 and began working for the department store Bonwit Teller as a fashion illustrator; among her colleagues there was the young Andy Warhol.
[2] Inspired by her surroundings in Thailand, Ayer began to work on a series of children's books based on her illustrations of day-to-day life in Bangkok.
[citation needed] But she was mainly based in London,[2] where she designed soft furnishings for brands including The Conran Shop and Ralph Lauren, as well as publishing a book on the history of Oriental costumes.
In later life, Ayer continued to draw and paint, and many of her final works were large-scale watercolours featuring flowers and her personal belongings.