F. Schumacher & Company is perhaps the most revered textile business in
America. Established in New York in 1889
by immigrant Frederic Schumacher, it remains a family-owned and run business
even after almost 125 years. While
Thibaut originally focused on wallpaper production, Schumacher first imported
fine fabrics, trimmings and rugs from Europe.
In 1895, they started manufacturing their own fabrics, then wallpapers,
and carpets. Over the years, Schumacher
has acquired other important, traditional companies including Greeff and
Decorator’s Walk and built an amazing library of textile designs. Needless to say, they include some of the most
enchanting butterfly motifs.
Leafy
Arbor, seen here in parchment… a warm,
almost tea-stained palette, literally envelopes you in its garden trellis.
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| Leafy Arbor in parchment |
Consider papering a sun room or family
room. Add stone or ceramic tile floors,
plump sofas, a little leather and The Elizabeth Lucas Company’s canvas-gauze-burlap pillows.
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| Butterfly 2 pillows by The Elizabeth Lucas Company |
Very comfortable living that’s wonderfully
pretty without being too feminine! Leafy Arbor is available in three other,
slightly clearer, icier colors.
Shadow
Vine wallpaper is more contemporary, and
perhaps, more magical with silhouettes of ferns, trailing autumn clematis, and of
course, butterflies.
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| Shadow Vine in chartreuse |
It comes in four
colors, including chartreuse, and would be stunning in your foyer lit with a
pair of vintage, French sconces from Le Breton Interieurs in San
Francisco.
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| Detail of Shadow Vine |
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| Fabulous brass sconces from Le Breton Interieurs |
Highlight the rather citrusy
green and brassy yellow with an Aesthetica
Mosaic by Christopher Marley.
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| Aesthetica Mosaic |
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| The not-so-little Goliath Birdwing |
His
studio, called Pheromone, collects butterflies, moths, beetles, bees, wasps,
flies and damselflies from around the globe and then creates these mesmerizing
collages. Your foyer would celebrate the
strange and wonderful beauty of insects and make you happy everyday!
The
1960s classic Birds and Butterflies,
available in wallpaper or cotton chintz, originated from Decorator’s Walk and
is now a mainstay of Schumacher’s collection.
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| Birds and Butterflies |
I appreciate its quirky duality.
It seems at once brilliantly bold and whimsically old-fashioned. To be honest, Birds and Butterflies really commands a room, but here are a few
accessories that can hold their own with the confident pattern.
Imagine
Birds and Butterflies in a breakfast
room with black and white ticking and Caskata’s lovely Butterfly dinnerware.
Or
use it to upholster a large screen in a guest bedroom. Add linen euro shams from Design Legacy.
Butterflies
for Brains, a sculpture from Global Views, would look
perfect flanked by wing chairs in Birds
and Butterflies.
And
last, but hardly least, the tiny, handmade Butterfly
Mosaic chandelier, from New York-based Canopy Designs, echoes the textile’s
bright blues and golds with just a bit more sparkle and glamour.
Since
1925, Schumacher has collaborated closely with important designers, architects
and institutions to develop special collections. Lulu DK’s sprightly Butterfly was created for Schumacher’s children’s line of fabrics,
but it could easily enliven any grown-up room.
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| Butterfly by Lulu DK for Schumacher |
Think
about floor-to-ceiling draperies or a skirted side table in the colorful poplin. Increase sophistication with Carson and Company’s chocolate Bettylou lamp or
frame their Mackenzie silk charmeuse
scarf for a dramatic focal point.
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| Carson and Company's chocolate-y Bettylou lamp... |
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| and sunshine-y Mackenzie scarf. |
In
so many ways, Lulu deKwiatkowski reminds me of butterflies and their remarkable
dichotomy of fragility and vitality.
Lulu grew up in a wealthy and artistic family and must have been
influenced by her cosmopolitan parents and stylish grandmother. But she was also allowed time to play and
explore nature. She studied fine arts at
Parsons School of Design and decorative painting in Paris but still regularly
finds inspiration in everyday scenes and objects from her travels throughout
the world. And I think it is this
openness to ideas, this true joie de vivre that makes her such a terrific
artist.
In
addition to her work with Schumacher, she has designed bed linens for Matouk,
furniture for Elite Leather and china for Neiman-Marcus. Lulu’s Byzantine
and Petals dinnerware patterns are
based on her fanciful watercolor paintings.
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| Byzantine... |
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| and Petals... |
And
I think her original endeavor – her signature collection of hand-printed
fabrics – is still her most appealing.
The aptly-named Dreamers comes
in 4 gorgeous color combinations. In
crystal, it goes perfectly with Benjamin Moore’s Silvery Blue, like the small
butterfly native to western America, and a duo of vintage lamps from Dragonette Limited in Los Angeles.
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| Dreamers in crystal |
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| Silvery Blue 1647 |
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| Beautifully hand-painted butterfly lamps from Dragonette |
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| Detail of vintage lamp |
Dreamers in kelly green is equally
charming, especially when matched with The Natural Light’s simple Garden Gourd table lamp. So very pretty… in the very best sense!
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| Dreamers in kelly green |
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| Garden Gourd from The Natural Light |
And
you know, there’s nothing wrong with pretty.
We need sweetness in our lives. And
we need butterflies… for pollination and plant control and for what they
represent and inspire.
So, plant a
butterfly garden. The National Museum of Natural History’s Butterfly Habitat Garden, between the Museum and 9th Street,
provides a lot of great ideas for what can grow in a harsh environment and
relatively small space. The Bristow Butterfly Garden, part of the Botanical Garden in Norfolk, Virginia, is
significantly larger at 2 acres. But the
goal is the same: to support butterflies and moths in all stages of life.
Even
if you don’t have a garden of your own, you can get up close and personal with
butterflies by participating in a butterfly count. The official counts are wrapping up here in
Central Virginia, but you can always organize a count of your own in a neighborhood
park or open space. Check with your
local Audubon Society or state Department of Conservation for guidance.
