There is only one supplier of decorative textiles still privately owned and managed by the direct descendants of the person who founded the company in the 19th century, and that company is F. Schumacher & Co.

Its founder was Frederic Schumacher, a chap with a good eye and an uncanny ability to predict what was coming next in the world of interior design. He came to New York City with a French textile company, but the same year he arrived, he hung his shingle for F. Schumacher & Company in the Garment District, now known as the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. Aided by the times in which he lived, an era of rapid economic growth known as the Gilded Age,  Schumacher became a success by suppling decorative textiles to mansions and hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria and the Vanderbilt. A Schumacher line was used to decorate the set for Gone With The Wind in 1939, and in the next decade, Schumacher was marketing directly to the department store shoppers by advertising in print media. In 1944, his first slogan was “all three,” which is to say that customer could buy fabric, wallpaper and carpeting in one place.  F. Schumacher was also involved in the design of the Metropolitan Opera and Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Schumacher sets were in the TV series, I Love Lucy, and in 1962, the nation saw Schumacher’s influence in the White House when Jackie Kennedy famously showed off the Blue Room Lampas room during her TV tour of the White House:

The wall paper and fabric in the Blue Room was supplied by Schumacher, and the paper is still available at only $459.25 a yard! Get it here.

Five generations later, Schumacher has successfully kept up with the times while honoring the past. The company currently maintains 18 showrooms in several countries and unveils new collections every month. It has, of course, an Internet presence, and in keeping with the times, its social-media platforms are growing rapidly, especially on Instagram where 505k followers keep up with interior fashion. The photo at the top is borrowed from that page, and you’ll note that four of the five dogs are purebreds (the dog at the far left is, we suspect, a doodle.

Dogs (especially Golden Retrievers) dot the Instagram page, and we leave you with one of the best. Enjoy!