Ready to Pounce
First designed for Manhattan restaurant Gino of Capri in the 1940s, Scalamandre’s ‘Zebra’ wallcovering is one of the US brand’s best-loved designs, depicting zebras prancing in mid-air on a bright red background. Now, there’s a new addition to the pack: ‘Leaping Cheetah’ (above right) pays homage to the original with its graphic style and bold-coloured backgrounds, but depicts sprinting big cats instead – and is notably without the flying arrows that accompany ‘Zebra’.
The original ‘Zebra’ is still in production and has had multiple reinventions since Franco and Flora Scalamandre designed the original, from expanded colourways to a performance fabric version and wallcoverings on different grounds including grasscloth and vinyl. The charming ‘Leaping Cheetah’ deserves to stand the test of time, too. Scalamandre’s collections are available at Turnell & Gigon,
