... when you can experience Venice in Fortuny?
When we stepped into Fortuny's three-week new, expanded showroom, we knew we would feel the spirit of Italy, but we couldn't have foreseen being granted the intimate history of Fortuny's legacy told by the company's co-owner Mickey Riad himself. Along with his brother, Maury Riad, the Brothers Riad have been running the company since 1998 and are eager to welcome designers at the showroom's entry, complete with an antique globe beneath a Venetian round window-inspired chandelier by Fortuny.
Mickey pointed out their in-store inventory and the many new products and partnerships with artisan companies such as Bevilacqua with whom they've collaborated. Oh, don't worry, it's not too many, just a few pieces of furniture with Nick Dine, a line of pillows designed by Monique Gibson, Barry Dixon, and Thad Hayes, chandeliers and lamps by Vistosi and Pietro Lunetta—and that's just to name a few.
The new products and accessories are accompanied by the deep colors and rich textures we know and love from Fortuny, not to mention the alluring reclaimed oak floors and textile table.
Mickey pauses from Fortuny's history to point out the intricacies of a pattern, the richness of a texture or the smoothness of a wall covering. We're glad we stayed awhile.
You’ll have to visit yourself to get the full scoop, but here’s a taste: Mariano Fortuny moved to Venice in 1889 and after several years of appreciating and practicing various forms of art - ranging from painting, photography, set design and engineering. He even invented a boat propeller and the light dimmer. (Edison invented the light bulb but Fortuny invented the dimmer switch.)
Fortuny met his life's love, Henriette Negrin who inspired him to create textiles in 1907. He became an icon in Venice with his invention of a more comfortable, less structured dress for women to wear while entertaining at home. Every Venetian woman had to have one, and soon they were wearing them all over town.
In the mid-1920's, Designer Elsie McNeill Lee saw Fortuny's fabrics hanging in the Carnavalet Museum in Paris and was so moved by what she saw that she traveled to Venice to meet with Mariano. There, she convinced him of her vision to market the fabrics in the States. She quickly became his exclusive distributor in the US.
When Mariano died in 1949, his wife called Mrs. Lee and asked her to take over the company. Mrs. Lee agreed and carried on the business for as long as she could and, before her death in 1994, insisted that her confidante, attorney, and the only person she truly trusted, Majed F. Riad, take on the company and preserve both its integrity and attachment to Venice. Yup, you guessed it, Mickey and Maury are the sons of Majed, and they've done exactly what the countess had asked for; they continue preserving the integrity and splendor that is Fortuny with a passion for its Venetian roots.
"This new showroom has really transformed my relationship with our product. I've always loved what I do," Mickey genuinely admits, "but now when I come to work, I feel like I've left the D&D Building and stepped into a piece of Venice. It's a place of inspiration rather than simply where I work."
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