Vera

For our wedding a few years back, We decided to collect vintage napkins for our table settings. This led me on a hunt to flea markets and thrift stores as well as on ebay and etsy and what I discovered was Vera. I had heard of the designer before and even had few of her scarves, but I was unaware of the full scope of her design repertoire. She was so incredibly prolific! The napkins were a big hit and my love affair with the iconic designer was born. So I was thrilled to recently discover a new biography of her Vera: The art and life of an icon. Her life was so inspiring and she achieved such incredible success which was all based on the simple concept that art should be accessible to all. She was and remains an amazing role model, someone whose independence, adventurousness and entrepreneurial spirit has been an inspiration to decades of women.

Vera and her husband first started screen printing her designs on the dining room table in their Gramercy Park apartment in 1942. They mostly did napkins and placemats (as they were the only things small enough to produce on the tiny frame). Soon however, they were being commissioned to produced yardage and moved to a larger studio uptown.  However, the wartime quickly dried up the fabric supply for cotton. One day Vera came across excess parachute silk from an army surplus store and had the idea to make scarves. And voila! an icon was born!

"Over the course of her career, which spanned the half century between her label's 1942 debut and her death in 1993, the tastemaker designed everything from wallpaper, bedding, and tablecloths, to dresses, blouses, and, of course, her signature scarves, signed like a painting with a cursive 'Vera.' All were based on her original artworks, which typically featured painterly florals or imagery inspired by her globe-trotting to far-flung destinations." Vera: The art and Life of an Icon

"Color is the language I speak best"- Vera