Kravet Inc
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Kravet Inc., is a
home furnishings Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furniture is also used to hold objects ...
company established in 1918. This fifth generation family business distributes
fabrics Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not ...
,
furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...
, wallcoverings, trimmings,
carpets A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...
and
accessories Accessory may refer to: * Accessory (legal term), a person who assists a criminal In anatomy * Accessory bone * Accessory breast * Accessory kidney * Accessory muscle * Accessory nucleus, in anatomy, a cranial nerve nucleus * Accessory nerve ...
. Kravet Inc. owns Kravet, Lee Jofa, GP & J Baker, Brunschwig & Fils and
Donghia Donghia is an American brand of decoration for furniture, textiles, lighting, and accessories. Italian-American interior designer Angelo Donghia founded Donghia in 1968. It is currently owned by Kravet Inc. Donghia collections include textiles, ...
. It has locations in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
and worldwide. The Kravet Inc. design studio is based in NYC, with a warehouse in Anderson,
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
, and corporate offices on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. The company has more than 40 showrooms in the U.S. and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and maintains offices and a distribution warehouse in
Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...
,
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.


History

Shmuel Kravetsky, later Samuel Kravet, (1873-1947) emigrated from
Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...
,
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
, to the United States in 1903 with his wife and three sons. As a tailor, he began supplying tailored apparel to an upscale clientele in the New York metropolitan area. Recognizing in his clients a desire for
interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...
assistance as well, he began fashioning decorative trimmings such as tie-backs and tassels, which he would offer when he made house calls. With this subtle shift from the design of apparel to the design of interior design products, Samuel Kravet participated in the historical development of a then emerging interior design industry. In 1918, Samuel Kravet opened a small trimmings store on Norfolk Street on the
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...
of Manhattan. In 1923, his four sons – Morris, Sam, Sol, and Hy – joined the business. They relocated to E. 21st St. and changed the company's name to S. Kravet & Sons. In 1924, they began offering decorative fabrics. S. Kravet & Sons relocated to 38 E. 30th St. and began selling to the interior design trade exclusively. The business grew quickly. In 1952, the company relocated to 104 E. 25th St. where it would have new offices as well as a warehouse for the storage and preparation of product. In 1963, the company changed its name to Kravet Fabrics, Inc. and expanded once again, this time moving to a larger warehouse and office facility in Woodbury, Long Island, New York. The company began exporting in 1965 and establishing showrooms nationwide in 1970. Further expansions to Anderson, South Carolina and Canada followed. The Kravet
high-end In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in con ...
licensing division began in 1993, to showcase
designers A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...
and the design accents of famous locations, lifestyles and brands. The Mark Hampton Fabric and Trimmings collections were the first license to join the Kravet family. Its success has brought forth numerous other licensed collections. These include fabric, carpet and trimmings collections created by interior designers such as Alexa Hampton, Barclay Butera, Barbara Barry,
Candice Olson Candice Olson (born October 27, 1964) is a Canadian designer. She was the host of the Toronto-based home-makeover shows '' Divine Design'' and '' Candice Tells All'', which aired on the W Network in Canada and on HGTV in the United States. Early ...
, Michael Berman, Michael Weiss,
Sarah Richardson Sarah Richardson (born October 22, 1971) is a Canadian interior decorator and television personality who started out her career as a prop stylist in 1994. Since then, she has hosted nine television series on decorating for HGTV in Canada. She ...
, Vicente Wolf, David Phoenix, Andrew Martin,
Kelly Wearstler Kelly Wearstler (; born November 21, 1967) is an American designer. She founded her own design firm Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (or KWID) in the mid-1990s, serving mainly the hotel industry, and now designs across high-end residential, comme ...
, Nate Berkus, Sue Firestone, Jan Showers, Carrier and Company, Bunny Williams, Suzanne Rheinstein, Thomas O’Brien, Les Ensembliers, Barry Lantz, Malene B.,
Lilly Pulitzer Lillian Pulitzer Rousseau (November 10, 1931 – April 7, 2013) was an American entrepreneur, fashion designer, and socialite. She founded Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., which produces floral print clothing and other wares. Career Lilly and husband H ...
and Windsor Smith, as well as collections inspired by fashion brands such as
Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...
,
Diane von Furstenberg Diane may refer to: People *Diane (given name) Film * ''Diane'' (1929 film), a German silent film * ''Diane'' (1956 film), a historical drama film starring Lana Turner * ''Diane'' (2017 film), a mystery film directed by Michael Mongillo * ''D ...
,
kate spade new york Kate Spade New York (stylized as kate spade NEW YORK) is an Culture of the United States, American fashion house founded in January 1993 by Kate Spade, Kate and Andy Spade. In 2017, the company was purchased by Tapestry, Inc., formerly known a ...
, Echo Design,
Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren (brand), Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped do ...
,
Joseph Abboud Joseph Abboud (born May 5, 1950) is an American menswear fashion designer and author. Early life and education Joseph Abboud was born in Boston, Massachusetts. The Abbouds were a working-class Lebanese Maronite Catholic family that started out ...
, Calvin Klein Home, and Thom Filicia. Kravet expanded its product offerings to include furniture in 1991, carpet in 2005, and lighting in 2007. It also acquired home furnishing manufacturer Lee Jofa in 1995 and fabric and
upholstery Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something. ''Upholstery'' comes from the Middle English wor ...
maker GP & J Baker in 2001. To encompass this broader offering of products, in 2002, the company changed its name to Kravet Inc. In 2011, Kravet acquired prestigious fabric and upholstery maker Brunschwig & Fils in a bankruptcy auction for $9.655 million. Kravet Inc. has supplied textiles for many historic properties. Brunschwig & Fils subsequently provided the upholstery for the 2015 Obama chairs, used in the 2015 renovation of the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C. In 2015, Kravet expanded to include finished goods, launching the first-ever trade only e-commerce site, CuratedKravet. In August 2020, Kravet Inc. acquired all assets from
Donghia Donghia is an American brand of decoration for furniture, textiles, lighting, and accessories. Italian-American interior designer Angelo Donghia founded Donghia in 1968. It is currently owned by Kravet Inc. Donghia collections include textiles, ...
. Those assets include all of the intellectual property, designs, patents, copyrights, inventory, website, social media sites, artwork, archives and sampling.


Bethpage Archive

In 2011, Kravet constructed an archive at their headquarters on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
with the acquisition of Brunschwig & Fils who collected a majority of the textiles in the collection. This massive collection of items including textile fragments, pieces of clothing and documents come from all over the world and all throughout history. Kravet Inc.’s diverse archive rivals many museums and features a variety or relics, such as eighteenth-century copperplate printed fabrics and lush floral nineteenth-century block printed furnishing fabrics. Other documents found in the archive include intricate toiles, ancient artisan-skilled woven textiles, hand-embroidered paisleys and an extensive collection of rare hand-block tiles. Kravet Inc. made parts of the archive available to the public through an exhibit featured at the
New York School of Interior Design New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) is a private college focused exclusively on interior design and located in New York City. The college offers certificate, three undergraduate, and four master's degree programs. Founded in 1916, it is l ...
in the Fall of 2019. This extensive archival collection is continuously in acquisition mode.


References

{{reflist Companies based in New York (state) Design companies of the United States