Maya Romanoff: Revolution in the Air

Written by Donna Sapolin

The 1969 Woodstock Music Festival revolutionized the music of an entire generation. It also liberated the artistic soul of Maya Romanoff, unleashing a talent that ended up changing the face of walls, ceilings, and furnishings around the globe. Romanoff sported a tie-dyed T-shirt on the festival grounds and, inspired by its freewheeling spirit and humble material, began developing his own line of tie-dyed velvets, silks, and leathers for fashion and interiors.

He went on to shape monumental artworks with his fabrics but in the 1980s turned his attention to wallpaper. Utilizing both ancient and new production techniques, he has created some of the most innovative and exotic surfacing materials the interior design profession has to offer-everything from glass bead and seashell encrusted papers to vinyls and inlaid wood veneers.

The design philosophy that has guided the Chicago-based Maya Romanoff company since its inception couldn’t be more simple-or profound: “It has to be beautiful”

“That mantra is always running through our heads as we explore new materials and put our unique spin on them” says his daughter, Laura Romanoff, who heads up sales and marketing for the firm.

More than 50% of Maya Romanoff’s wall coverings and surfacing materials are made in their Chicago studio by long-term employees. “Instead of exporting jobs to India and Asia, we export wallpaper,” says Laura. While everything the team shapes, she says, passes through the filter of what they collectively feel is beautiful, Maya remains the in-house tweaker, weighing in on color choices, pattern repeats and, in general, determining what will most please the human eye.

The products are consistently riveting and increasingly eco-friendly. Existing collections include: the Mother of Pearl wallcovering (the firm’s most popular), comprising a thin layer of Capiz sea shells; Bedazzled, a flexible glass bead wallcovering;  and True Metals, flexible tiles of hand inlaid brass, copper or aluminum.

“What all these have in common is that they are flexible and made of natural materials. We strip away the unnecessary finishes so the material itself can be appreciated. The glass beads are right there on the surface; nothing covers our woods; and there’s only a thin layer of varnish on the seashells,” explains Laura.

In late 2009, the company, now represented in 30 countries as well as in multiple showrooms throughout the U.S., will mark its 40th anniversary. With 30 different wallcovering and surfacing collections in production and several new ones in development, Maya Romanoff has much to celebrate. Their wares are used in projects shaped by some of the world’s top designers, in applications that range from ceiling coverings and furniture insets to lampshades and menu covers.

.

In honor of the milestone year, Maya Romanoff will be pushing archival collections forward, giving the lines and colors of the tie-dyed wall coverings a more contemporary spin. In May, they’ll be releasing the Meditations collection-an entirely green product made of Tibetan prayer papers and produced without electricity. Also out that month: Blankets, a new addition to a collection created in collaboration with designer David Rockwell.

The most exciting new contribution to Maya Romanoff’s legacy of invention is Sunburst, a wood veneer made of Paulownia, a fig tree that is flexible and fast renewing. Part of the company’s Ajiro collection, the product recently garnered Interior Design Magazine’s Best of Year award. With a name like Sunburst, it could have been right at home in the Woodstock era. But the veneer’s extraordinary hand-inlaid pattern and eco-conscious character make it an ideal product for today.

The company has never followed design trends, opting instead to create products that offer the timeless appeal of natural materials. With this focus, it put into place a strategy for continuing success. There can be little doubt that Maya Romanoff will be celebrating many more anniversaries in the years ahead.