There are few companies with as storied history as Maharam, which was founded in 1902 by Russian-born American immigrant Louis Maharam. From a pushcart near Manhattan’s Wall Street, Louis sold fabric fabric remnants, a business venture that subsequently evolved to become a storefront in New York City’s midtown.
Through the 1940s, Maharam became a leading source of textiles for theatre costumes and set design. It wasn’t until the 1960s, as the city’s building boom really began to take hold with the creation of skyscrapers and offices across the island, that Maharam “really took off,” says Manzari. “It really marked the beginning of the modern interior textiles industry because people all of a sudden needed a greater variety of upholstery and soft furnishings and window coverings, and it’s when Maharam gained a lot of its big contracts that led to its expansion.”