Some time ago, while looking at a documentary on TV, Bevilacqua’s owners saw someone they know well. It was Iris Apfel who, together with her husband Carl, has often been to Venice to buy two kinds of luxury fabrics: the Tigre and Leopardo cut velvets.
Today we’ll tell you how this collaboration was born, and some whimsical stories, too.
The beginning of our collaboration with Carl and Iris Apfel
After seeing the Iris documentary by Albert Maysles (2014), the Bevilacqua brothers have immediately started searching for pictures in the family photo albums. And they’ve discovered the image you see here. The photo shows Giulio Bevilacqua next to Iris and Carl Apfel, in the Sixties, and was taken during one of the couple’s countless visits to Venice.
On one of their visits, the Apfels brought us something special. We had persuaded our father, Giulio, to buy a Ford Mustang. And they were the ones who brought it to the Port of Genoa, where we then met them.
So the relationship went beyond business, and continued even after Giulio Bevilacqua and Carl Apfel passed away.
But now, let’s talk business.
The animal Italian cut velvets produced for the Old World Weavers
Carl and Iris Apfel came to Venice because they were looking for upholstery velvet manufacturers. Indeed, you could count handmade velvet producers on the fingers of one hand already in the Fifties.
Let’s take a step back.
In 1950, the American husband and wife – born respectively in 1914 and 1921 – founded the Old World Weavers, a textile company specialised in furniture restoration. They led it until 1992, when it became part of Stark Carpet. During this period, they worked on several interiors, including those of the White House, under 9 Presidents, from Truman to Clinton.
And thanks to this company, in the 1950s our Casa Bianca velvet was chosen for the most important building in Washington.
We’ve produced the Tigre and Leopardo velvets for them, too, used as upholstery fabrics, on carpets for example. They were indeed extremely thick textiles, since their weft contained linen.
According to the Bevilacqua family, the two interior designers had an unusual style, which was though connected to the passion they shared: fabrics. While leading the Old World Weavers, they travelled together across Europe and Northern Africa, looking for old fabrics to restore American houses.
However, they soon couldn’t find any antique anymore: so they started dealing with traditional fabric manufacturers, like Bevilacqua’s. And this is how they brought a piece of Europe to the United States.
