A mutual admiration on Instagram has morphed into real-world collaboration between Gracie Wallpaper and New Ravenna Mosaics.
“For years we’ve known about Gracie’s Chinese chinoiserie murals with flowers and birds – they’ve been doing it since the 1800s,” says Cean Irminger, New Ravenna’s creative director. “We’ve been following them on Instagram, and it turns out they were following us.”
So a New Ravenna mosaicist reached out to the storied wallpaper makers – with a positive outcome. “They said yes – and this is the first time they’ve collaborated and licensed their products,” she says. “We’re honored and humbled, because we’re both employing artists in crafts that take years and years to master.”
Since 1898, the New York-based Gracie family has offered a fine range of handpainted scenics, antiques, and lacquer for walls in high-end residential applications. Founded in 1992 by artist and designer Sara Baldwin, New Ravenna has established a reputation for exquisite collections of custom stone and glass mosaics for home and commercial use.
Now the two are joining forces to create glass and gold mosaics based on Gracie’s much-coveted wallcoverings. “We want to open up the possibilities of Gracie design in anyone’s house in a much more durable form,” Irminger says. “Gracie wallpaper could last a hundred years, but these mosaics will last even longer – even in the shower.”
There are a few minor limitations, though. The mosaics probably aren’t for the shower if the installation calls for metallic materials like a silver backing or 24-carat gold. But unlike Gracie wallpaper, the mosaics can be used for kitchen and bath applications, since a splash of water on glass won’t affect them. And the mosaics are not for floors. “Installation will be for walls only, because of the sharp edges to glass,” she says.
The target market? “It’ll be high-end residential, because it takes a very long time to create the panels, and only our master mosaicists who’ve worked for the company 10-plus years would work on these,” she says. “We’d be looking at the same people and interior designers who are seeking out Gracie.”
Murals from Gracie and mosaics from New Ravenna: It might be an interior designer’s idea of a match made in heaven.
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