Built to Last - Interior Crafts, Nearly 60 Years And Counting

Photograph by Allessandro Pajewski
Written by Shane Reilly

The story of Interior Crafts is an all-American story of building a business meant to last.  Two friends and World War Two veterans, Vito Ursini and Jerry Seiff, decided to open an upholstery shop in 1951.  While Seiff managed outside sales, Ursini handled the workroom, overseeing that every product was made with the highest standards of craftsmanship.  The addition of a 20 x 20 foot showroom in front of the workroom enabled the business to attract interior designers, and with the growth in the economy throughout the 1950’s the pair grew the business every year.

By 1958 Interior Crafts had grown enough to move into the Merchandise Mart.  The Merch Mart was instrumental in rounding up what had been a string of tiny drapery and furniture stores and centralizing the interiors industry under one roof.

On the rebound after the Great Depression of the 1930’s and the slower economic times of the 1940’s, the Merch Mart came alive in the 1950’s as a national wholesale merchandising powerhouse.  Companies like Interior Crafts which produced top quality products were able to grow and develop signature looks that are still around today.

Image Courtesy of Skyscraperpage.com
Interior Crafts’ signature characteristics include expertise in wood veneer work and metal leafing.  Expertise with exotic veneers, such as koala and macassar, began as early as the French reproduction pieces Mr. Ursini designed in the 1950’s.  The company’s skill at handling the veneers extended to include intricate carvings such as birds and flowers.  In the 1970’s Interior Crafts launched a then revolutionary collection of Art Deco pieces with metal leafing

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The striking, contemporary lines of this collection undeniably influenced the interiors industry, which witnessed a flood of Art Deco pieces in the years to follow.  Interior Crafts continued to evolve the look and master the unique skills required for metal leafing.

Now, nearly six decades after it started, Interior Crafts is returning to its roots.

“It’s back to the archives,” says Emily Ursini, a company leader and the daughter Vito Ursini, “Fashion comes full circle,” she adds.

Ms. Ursini explains how the company can take a cabinet design from the 1950’s, and reverse a curve, change a veneer, update the hardware, adjust a few lines, add more pieces to the collection, and suddenly they have hot, new products to offer their customers. While that may make it sound easy enough for any furniture company to copy Interior Crafts’ old designs, that is actually not the case.  According to Ms. Ursini,

“everything today has gotten so straight and square, but this collection is about curves, movement, and layout of the veneer.” She explains that the curves actually make the pieces unique and more difficult to copy, adding that they sometimes use their original molds upside down to create the new pieces.

Clearly, the company’s technical skills enable it to keep innovating on their own designs, a recipe for a long and stable future. When pressed about today’s economic concerns, Ms. Ursini retorts,

“The housing crisis did not [immediately] affect us, that was not our niche, but the people who invested in the stock market, now that worries me.”  Asked if those who lost wealth recently might buy less expensive retail now instead of high-end custom products, Ms. Ursini believes they will not.  “They will hold.  They just won’t buy.  Once they buy something really well made, then buy something junky - they can see it right off.”

Fortunately for Interior Crafts, the company’s long-standing record of craftsmanship and style will enable them to outlast this latest challenge as well.

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FAVORITE INTERIOR CRAFTS PRODUCTS ON DECORATI
51296 Sofa	0231 Mirror	8135 Chair
0519 Dining Table	52728 Lounge Chair	0603 Nightstand

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INTERNATIONAL REVIEW: PRESTIGIOUS INTERIOR CRAFTS’ INSTALLATIONS AROUND THE WORLD

Four Seasons, Dallas

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Venetian, Las Vegas

Photographs by Michael Robinson and Allessandro Pajewski

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