Thursday, October 6, 2011

Scalamandre

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of touring the Scalamandre townhouse in New York with Steven Stolman, the new president of the company. Meg from Pigtown Design also recently visited the townhouse so I thought I would add my experience as well!As an architect, I was admittedly a bit out of my league with the technical discussions of the fabric they were showing, but I could of course appreciate their beauty and history. Scalamandre was kind enough to pull some items from their archives for me which appealed to my inner design history geek!One of my favorites was the Boris Kroll designed scheme for Scalamandre from 1973 for the Continental Airlines premier 747 jet service to Honolulu. Imagine flying in such a chic and brightly colored plane on your way to paradise! The colors, seen in the photograph above, ranged from hot pink in first class to serene blue in coach. The fabric samples are attached to a floorplan of the plane itself.With much of their work focusing on historical restoration and recreation, Scalamandre had worked on the Metropolitan opera house renovation and recreated the stage curtains which have this immense gold trim at the base and lush red velvet, seen in the archival box behind. The challenge here was to recreate the original curtain but to meet all of the required codes regarding fire safety. Steven mentioned the seats were all upholstered in costly mohair as wool is a fire retardant.
One of my favorite fabrics from the archives was this charming Auntie Mame'esque chinoiserie print designed by the founder's wife, Flora Scalamandre, in the 1950s - I hope they bring this back!While known primarily for their prints and traditional fabrics, such as this great one on a sofa in the DC showroom, Steven vows to bring the company into the 21st century while leaving their whole legacy intact. His dream is that nothing will be 'out of print' and you can order any of the great fabrics from the companies history.Recent advances in digital technology make this dream possible and the company has developed ways of using the technology that meet or surpass the techniques of the past.










So many new gorgeous prints!


I loved this fern print - very Martha Stewart, don't you think?


This cheerful preppy fabric is meant for outdoors but Steven said that a lot of designers have actually been using this inside. This new ikat pattern is actually complexly woven with a raised, textured design. Another fabric from their new line is "muse ornamentale" which is an updated look at a traditional design. It reminded me so much of the tropically inspired grand fabrics at Vizcaya, which had Scalamandre in on its' restoration!Of course, what would Scalamandre be without their animal prints (we all know their iconic zebra!)


In their new collection is a metallic giraffe print that is beautiful on both sides!


Their classic leopard silk velvet is still available (and is one of their most popular despite the high price tag!)



A new addition and sure to be equally as popular is a tiger printed velvet in either a mottled green or hot pink!












And of course, Scalamandre's iconic zebra print is available in many colorways and as fabric, wallpaper or even umbrellas! I hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did! Many thanks to Scalamandre and new friend Steven Stolman (who is also a CMU alum I found out!).

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful and educational post! I love the archive items that they dragged out for you, what a treat. I think there's a movement for designers to use outdoor fabrics inside, I see that a lot here at RL as well (much easier to maintain with messy kids).

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  2. Wasn't that the most fun! Such lovely people and very smart to be reaching out to bloggers! Looks like you and I did different things, which is great!

    xo

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  3. Meg, isn't that place amazing! I spent an entire afternoon in the townhouse. I only briefly looked at the trims so I'm glad to see more of them from you!

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  4. Stefan a dream come true!! I adore fine fabrics and designs, they are works of art in my book!

    I hope you will visit soon...let me know what you think of my Autumn decor and enter my New Giveaway!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  5. They make such beautiful fabrics. I've been lucky enough to make lots of draperies using them over the years. What a great tour !

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  6. Gorgeous fabrics! I LOVE the metallic giraffe!

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  7. It is great that you both featured one of my favorites -- although I have never used it -- the Metropolitan Opera fringe! I wish Scalamandre the best; it has a great line (and archives) that deserves to continue with great success!

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  8. Karena -they are art!
    Tammy -you ARE lucky!!
    Walls - I think that giraffe print will be HUGE when it's released!
    Classicist - I so agree on wishing them the best -they're one of the best companies out there!

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  9. Stefan -- I definitely enjoyed your virtual tour. You're not out of your league at all. Your shots of the arranged-by-color samples attached to the plans might be my favorite -- you should put them on instagram. Never tire of the zebras.

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  10. Courtney, I just meant that a lot of the technical terms were not in my vocabulary -I learned so much from Steven and Janice! I think they're very smart to latch onto the zebra print for their branding - instantly recognizable and everyone loves it.
    I contemplated instagram but I didn't want to loose any of the detail or color.

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  11. YES -it was just so amazing, Courtney -so many things I'd want to do with that!

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  12. I was just looking at the zebra-print wall paper in the golden yellow and red colorway. Certainly would love to use these in my space.



    Rashon aka Mr. Goodwill Hunting

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  13. Yum. Just yum. Totally fascinating

    (And I never grow tired of the Fern print)

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  14. Mmm, Scalamandre. I majored in textile design, how did I end up working in an office?

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  15. Lucky you! I was fortunate enough to get an archive tour at Pierre Frey when I was in Paris for M&O last month. I would love, LOVE to poke around in the archives of Scalamandre as well. Thanks for the virtual tour!

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  16. Stefan, it was so great seeing you at the Scalamandre DC party last week, and I was thrilled to see this post. Look for our post tomorrow after my own chat with Steven in the morning (he was too busy being a host last week to chat!). Hope to see you soon -- Jen

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  17. The fern print was Elsie de Wolfe's favorite (or one of them) brilliant that it is now in outdoor fabric (I use it indoors , too! Bulletproof with children!!)

    Steven Stolman is a brilliant choice to head this company; and I have the highest hopes! He is such a talent; and I am lucky to have him as a friend!! Bravo!!
    Bravo!!

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  18. Thanks for sharing.
    Inspirational for my files on creating my own fabric line!

    grantkgibson.com
    grantkgibson.blogspot.com

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