{"id":182,"date":"2019-02-20T16:13:28","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T16:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondthebeige.theinside.com\/scalamandre-2628781196.html"},"modified":"2021-09-16T20:02:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T20:02:55","slug":"a-brief-history-of-scalamandre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/a-brief-history-of-scalamandre\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Scalamandr\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story of Scalamandr\u00e9 is an American story. Born in 1929, the house of Scalamandr\u00e9<\/a> started in the home of an Italian immigrant couple and quickly found its way through the doors of The White House.<\/p>\n

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THE BEGINNING<\/h3>\n
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Courtesy of Scalamandre<\/p>\n

Franco Scalamandr\u00e9 immigrated to America in 1923 to escape the rising control of Mussolini and the fascist regime. An engineer by trade, Scalamandr\u00e9 landed a job with Westinghouse. He eventually took a job as a draftsman and, later, as a teacher at the Sealy School of Interior Design.<\/p>\n

During his time at the Sealy School, Scalamandr\u00e9 met Mrs. Sealy. The pair began importing Italian fabrics and furnishings, solidifying the concept that would ultimately lead Scalamandr\u00e9 to create a fabric house in the states. At the time, Patterson, New Jersey was a booming textile production town, and Scalamandr\u00e9 was able to produce his first yardage with one weaver and a single loom.<\/p>\n

By 1929, Scalamandr\u00e9 had saved up enough money to buy a brick mill in Long Island City, which would lay the foundation for one of America’s leading fabric manufacturers. 1929 may seem like an unfortunate year to start a new business, but surprisingly, many American heritage brands (like Macy’s) started that same year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SCALAMANDRE SILKS<\/h3>\n
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Courtesy of Scalamandre<\/p>\n

During the Great Depression, word of “Scalamandr\u00e9 Silks” spread quickly, and Franco also met Flora Baranzelli, a talented artist who came from a family of Italian painters. The two were married, and this union cemented their partnership as a design dream team. Flora’s elevated eye, when combined with Franco’s innovative approach to manufacturing, would pave the way for Scalamandr\u00e9’s success.<\/p>\n

As more Europeans began fleeing the continent, Scalamandr\u00e9, the now booming fabric company, found itself fully staffed with some of the most talented weavers. With the addition of more machinery and a full-scale dyeing operation, the company took over their entire 50,000-square-foot building.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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WARTIME EFFORTS<\/h3>\n
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Courtesy of Scalamandre<\/p>\n

During World War II, Scalamandr\u00e9, like many American companies, shifted its attention to wartime efforts. Nearly 80% of the company’s production was war-related: parachute silk, camouflage netting, and uniform braids.<\/p>\n

Following the war, Scalamandr\u00e9 made two important hires: Adriana and Gino Scalamandr\u00e9, the couple’s children. They shifted their attention to luxury projects and historic reproductions. Some of their most noteworthy projects included the great mansions of Newport, the Kennedy White House, and Hearst Castle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A FAMILY AFFAIR<\/h3>\n

Adriana Scalamandr\u00e9 married Edwin Bitter, who joined the family business in sales and marketing. The couple had four children\u2014Ward, Robert, Mark, and Tami\u2014who carried on the business alongside their parents. Scalamandr\u00e9 remained a leader in textile production throughout the 20th century. Their commitment to art and craft yielded a legacy of “all things rare and beautiful,” according to Scalamandr\u00e9 biographer Steven Stolman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AN ICONIC MOTIF<\/h3>\n
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Photo: James and Karla Murray<\/p>\n

In 1945, Gino Circiello, an immigrant from Argentina and a friend of the Scalamandr\u00e9s, opened a small Italian restaurant on New York’s Upper East Side called Gino’s. Circiello envisioned a stylish and swanky spot and asked for design assistance. Inspired by the zebra upholstery that the Scalamandr\u00e9s had once done for the El Morocco nightclub, Circiello requested a similar design. Flora produced a sketch of prancing zebras fleeing a hunter’s arrows, and an iconic motif was born. That pattern was repeated on printed wallpaper the color of spaghetti sauce and became the signature of Gino’s. Fast-forward to 2001. That year, director Wes Anderson picked the same print for the family brownstone in\u00a0The Royal Tenenbaums<\/em>, allowing an entirely new generation to fall in love with\u00a0Scalamandr\u00e9’s Zebras<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A FAVORITE AMONG DECORATORS<\/h3>\n
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Bryant Keller for the 2012 Kips Bay Show House, Courtesy of Scalamandre<\/p>\n

A study of the archives reveals that Scalamandr\u00e9 was a sourcing staple for\u00a0iconic decorators<\/a>, such as Eleanor McMillen Brown and Nancy McClelland. Its prominence in the interiors of Miles Redd and Nate Berkus reveals that it remains relevant to the designers of the moment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SCALAMANDRE TODAY<\/h3>\n
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Photo: Genevieve Garruppo, Courtesy of Elle Decor<\/p>\n

Although no longer in the hands of the Scalamandr\u00e9 family, Scalamandr\u00e9 remains a family affair with its CEO Louis Renzo and his sons Christopher and Louis Nicholas managing the operations of the legendary textile house. In 2017, Scalamandr\u00e9 merged with Stark Fabric and continues to operate 13 to-the-trade showrooms in major metropolitan locations, including its flagship New York location. The forward-thinking team, led by president Chad Stark, is paving the way in ushering an old-school industry into the digital age.\u00a0Our collaboration<\/a>\u00a0is just the beginning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The story of Scalamandr\u00e9 is an American story. Born in 1929, the house of Scalamandr\u00e9 started in the home of an Italian immigrant couple and quickly found its way through the doors of The White House. THE BEGINNING Courtesy of Scalamandre Franco Scalamandr\u00e9 immigrated to America in 1923 to escape the rising control of Mussolini […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/2515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theinside.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}