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Not many can boast that they are close enough to the president of the United States to definitively state that they have been in Barack Obama’s private residence in the White House. But Dennis DeCrescenzo and Paul Anastasakis of Southampton’s Crezana Design have the unique distinction of being in the president’s personal quarters every day. Well, maybe not in person, but their handcrafted wall coverings, chosen by interior designer Michael Smith, do hang in the Obama family’s private family sitting salon at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
The president and his wife, Michelle, appointed Mr. Smith to redecorate the residential quarters of the White House in 2008. According to Mr. DeCrescenzo and Mr. Anastasakis, their meeting with Mr. Smith was a completely chance affair, though one that would result in frequent collaboration down the road.
“We had just come up with the IKAT embroidered grass cloth pattern and taken it to our New York showroom,” Mr. DeCrescenzo recounted during a recent interview. “Michael has a furniture line rep at that showroom and he happened to be there that day. One of the managers said, ‘Michael, look at this wall covering,’ and he said, ‘That’s exactly what I’m looking for.’ At the time we didn’t know who it was for—just a high-profile private client. Six months later we finally realized it was the president.”
Mr. Smith’s artful mix of traditional with modern design, insistence on quality workmanship and a propensity to use American artists and designers all led him to choose Crezana Design for this particular project.
Mr. DeCrescenzo and Mr. Anastasakis have been in business together since 1986, creating custom, luxury, handmade, hand-printed fabric and wall coverings. Their creations utilize unusual materials made of woven straw from Madagascar, velvet, and leather tiles with elaborate finishes, embossing, embroidery, metallic washes and even aluminum studs. Crezana Design’s celebrity clients include Gayle King and Cher, for whom they created 500 yards of heavy Madagascar straw, which they tinted for her living room—matching custom colors is another of the company’s specialties.
Crezana’s wall coverings are also used in luxury hotel chains such as the Four Seasons and Rosewood Hotels. Casino/real estate developer Steve Wynn hired them for the new Wynn Las Vegas hotel, where their designs cover not only the walls of the casinos, restaurants (the rich maroon leather fabric with hand-painted gold patterning graces the bars and lounges) and spa, but also the headboards in every room.
“The Wynn was our largest commitment, four years,” Mr. DeCrescenzo explained. “To hand-paint just the headboards alone was over 20,000 yards of straw.”
On the long metal tables in their 2,500-square-foot industrial design room on Mariner Drive, Mr. DeCrescenzo rolled out examples of his and Mr. Anastasakis’s popular metallic and animal print designs. He noted that Crezana designs tend to mimic fashion trends, which is something he experienced first-hand in his former career.
“I did hand-painted dresses for Halston, Oscar de la Renta and Yves Saint Laurent, Mr. DeCrescenzo said. “I also did a line of my own for years but the stores never paid so I got away from that.”
Teamwork is key when it comes to design, he added.
“If I come up with a concept, I can’t get it without putting it through Bob Frame, who does our fabulous photography, and Paul,” said Mr. DeCrescenzo. “It’s great to get that second or third eye to say ‘try this or try that.’ Paul will look over from the loft above and say, ‘You’re off on that color—it’s getting too heavy on this side of the table—lighten it up.’”
Mr. DeCrescenzo also credited the East End for its amazing natural beauty. He said that the landscape here provides not only artistic inspiration but also the calm in the designing storm.
“To be out here and away from the craziness in the city, we’re really blessed. Every day we go to the beach for lunch, even if we sit in the car in the rain. It chills you out,” he said.
He added that other than the Tanger Mall in Riverhead, nowadays not much gets him west of the Shinnecock Canal; not even a request from the King of Saudi Arabia.
“About 10 years ago, we used to do a lot of private jets, and we would do hand-painted ultra suede or leathers,” Mr. DeCrescenzo said. “We got a call to fly to Zurich to paint King Fahd’s plane of Saudi Arabia but we didn’t want to go, so the next month they said the plane was in Texas and would we come paint the bulkhead of the plane. At that time we were doing a big job and couldn’t. So finally they said, ‘Why don’t we bring parts of the bulkhead to you, and you can paint it there?’” he continued, laughing. “Three huge containers arrived via Fed Ex. It took up the entire industrial parking lot. And it came with two armed guards for the week.”
To match the real gold used throughout the interior of the $150 million plane, the two men created a swirl pattern with pure precious metal powdered gold freehand since the area was too large to stencil.
But even though Crezana Design fabrics and wall coverings are fit for a king, a president and some entertainment heavy hitters, the company’s work is available to the hoi polloi too. Prices run from approximately $40 a yard to $150 a yard wholesale and items are available through showrooms in Manhattan, Chicago, Florida, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with planned showroom in Hawaii. Mr. DeCrescenzo and Mr. Anastasakis also work closely with popular Hamptons designers, including Elsa Soyars, Greg McKenzie, Carole Reed, Steven Gambrel, Fox-Nahem, Tony Ingrao, John Bjørnen and Soraida Bedoya.
So for those who want to live like royalty, or perhaps really are royalty, Crezana Designs is here in Southampton just waiting for that call. Unless it involves travelling west.
on Mar 21, 2011