Kravet

Kravet Inc., established in 1918, is the industry leader in to-the-trade home furnishings. This fifth-generation family business distributes fabrics, furniture, wall coverings, trimmings, carpets and accessories. The family's commitment to innovation has helped the company transform from a small fabric house to a global leader, representing brands and designers from all over the world. With showroom locations in North America and worldwide, Kravet Inc. owns Kravet, Lee Jofa, Groundworks, GP & J Baker and Brunschwig & Fils, all high-end fabric houses that specialize in style, luxury and exceptional design.

In 2015, Kravet Inc. introduced CuratedKravet.com, a trade-only e-commerce site offering designers unique furniture and accessories curated from around the globe. The site expands the breadth of product that is available through Kravet. CuratedKravet.com teams up with the industry’s leading tastemakers including Alexa Hampton, Jeffrey Alan Marks, Jonathan Adler, Michael Berman, and more to design rooms that are fully shop-able with the click of a button.

The Kravet design studio is based in NYC, with warehouses and offices in Bethpage, Long Island and Anderson, South Carolina. The company has more than 40 showrooms in the U.S. and Canada. To service the needs of overseas markets, the company also maintains offices and a distribution warehouse in Poole, United Kingdom.

For further brand information, please refer to www.kravet.com.

History

Samuel Kravet emigrated from Grodno, Russia to the United States in 1903 as an accomplished tailor. He immediately began supplying tailored apparel to an upscale clientele in the New York metropolitan area. Recognizing in his clients a desire for interior design 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. His craftsmanship as a tailor and his skill with textiles are important hallmarks of Kravet Inc. today.

In 1918, Samuel Kravet opened a small trimmings store on Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side 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.

While the craft of furniture and textile making and the art of interior decoration (now often referred to as interior design) have been around for centuries, the notion of the interior design professional only began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Before then, interior design had largely been the role of upholsterers and architects. Yet the affluence of ‘the American Century’ and the growth of the middle and upper classes broadened the base of those willing to hire professional designers.

In response to these developments, 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 the 1960s, 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.

After years of supplying interior designers with the widest range of fabrics and trimmings in the industry, Kravet decided to expand 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 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 fabric and upholstery maker Brunschwig & Fils. 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.[1]

The Kravet high-end licensing division, Kravet Collections, began in 1993, as a way of showcasing the unique talents of certain gifted designers as well as the unique 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 taste-making interior designers such as Alexa Hampton, Barclay Butera, Barbara Barry, Candice Olson, Michael Berman, Michael Weiss, Sarah Richardson, Vicente Wolf, and Windsor Smith, as well as collections inspired by fashion brands such as Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenberg, kate spade new york, Echo Design, Joseph Abboud, Calvin Klein Home, and Thom Filicia.

For further brand information, please refer to www.kravet.com.