During the 1920s and 30s Best studied painting with Thea Proctor and embroidery with June Scott Stevenson, moving indirectly into interior decoration.
[3] In 1938 Marion Hall Best enrolled in the first year Architecture course at The University of Sydney under the charismatic founding chair Professor Leslie Wilkinson.
She stocked local designers Gordon Andrews, Clement Meadmore, Roger Maclay and Leonard French and was influential in setting up the contacts for the importation of international textiles, furniture, and wallpaper of designers such as Marimekko, Herman Miller, Eero Saarinen, Noguchi, McGuire and Jim Thompson.
These included Amie Kingston and Dora Sweetapple and were produced by Gilkes & Co. Post-war her work was published in home magazines reaching a wide audience.
[3] At the sixth Australian Architectural convention in 1956 Marion Hall Best presented a paper titled “Design for Every Day Things: Furnishings”.