When Backdrop paint joined the FS&CO family of brands in 2021, cofounder Natalie Ebel discovered one particularly intriguing perk: no-holds-barred access to the Schumacher archives. Housed in a Brooklyn warehouse, the collection contains more than 40,000 textiles and wallpapers dating back to the storied fabric house’s founding in 1889. “Thumbing through the boxes, you’ll come across designs by Frank Lloyd Wright, or for the Metropolitan Opera House,” says Los Angeles–based Ebel. “It’s cool to be part of a company that has such a rich history.”
After designing several original Backdrop collections with Schumacher, Ebel decided to dip into the stash of vintage prints she’d been scanning and saving during her frequent visits to New York. The result: Archive by Backdrop, a new assortment of four wallpapers inspired by Schumacher’s past but with an undeniably of-the-moment Backdrop twist.
The Schumacher archives contain more than 1500 wallpaper books dating back to the company’s founding in 1889.
Keith Oshiro
Ebel found plenty of inspiration in the company’s playful approach to advertising in the mid-20th century.
Keith Oshiro“When I looked back through my collection of favorites from the archives, they were mostly from the 1950s,” says Ebel. “Schumacher’s design sensibility and the spirt of how they marketed themselves then feels very similar to Backdrop to me. It was cheeky and playful, not taking themselves too seriously.” The designs that caught her eye were “very gestural, with linework and painterly qualities that felt very right for Backdrop.” And most of them weren’t even wallpapers: “The designs came from scarves, old documents, and fabrics,” Ebel explains. “The exciting part was reinterpreting them—whether it be through scale, special printing techniques like metallic pigments, or color palette—to give it a Backdrop lens.”
Ebel was inspired by a 1966 print ad to create this folding screen displaying all the designs from the Archive by Backdrop collection.
Keith OshiroTake the grandly scaled Palazzo wall panel set, inspired by a Schumacher fabric from the 1950s that was itself based on a drawing by 17th-century artist and architect Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena. Ebel reimagined it as a 15-foot-high mural with shimmering splashes of metallic gold that are hand-screened onto the paper. Backdrop designers expanded the ceiling and floor so that the paper can be trimmed to fit any ceiling height. “I’d love to see it in a hotel,” says Ebel, “but it would be great in an entry, or you could use elements from it to create architectural drama in any room.”
Ebel examines the original fabric printed with John Groth’s 1957 “Horses in Sport” illustrations, which became Tanbark wallpaper.
Keith Oshiro
The Schumacher archive holds more than 40,000 wallpapers, fabrics, and other documents.
Keith OshiroTanbark was inspired by a silk fabric from 1957 filled with sketches of horses and riders by illustrator John Groth. “I was attracted to the really beautiful sense of movement and linework in the horses—I grew up dancing, and this has a very lyrical quality that captures that motion,” says Ebel, who plans to use the pattern in the closet of the 1929 Spanish Revival in Glendale she shares with her husband (and Backdrop cofounder), Caleb. The equine theme continues in Horses wallpaper, a whimsical take on a 1950s document that features fanciful illustrations of Victorian scenery.
The most classical design in the new collection is Edith—as in Edith Wharton, one of Schumacher’s notable early customers. The pattern’s cherubs came from a vintage Schumacher fabric, St. Claire Le Chateau, named for Wharton’s villa in France. But look closer at the jaunty bell-motif trellis with pearl swags and you’ll also see shells, butterflies, and bees, all reinterpreted from 19th- and 20th-century documents with a Backdrop joie de vivre.
The whimsical, cartoon-like illustrations of Horses became a lighthearted, colorful take on the equine theme.
Keith Oshiro“I always try to approach design with conviction: Would I put this in my house? Is it livable? Can it work in a big room and a small room?” says Ebel. “On Zoom calls, I’ll try out a wallpaper panel in my background because I want to understand its scale and livability.” It’s that sense of reality-tested honesty that has made legions of fans so devoted to Backdrop. “What’s most exciting to me,” says Ebel, “is to see how our customers bring the designs to life in their own homes.”
What’s next on the horizon for the always-innovating Backdrop? Stay tuned for an upcoming expansion into fabrics!
Shop the Archive by Backdrop Collection
PALAZZO WALL PANEL SET
$2,988 for four panels, backdrophome.com
Tanbark Wallpaper
$36 per yard, backdrophome.com
EDITH WALLPAPER
$42 per yard, backdrophome.com
Horses wallpaper
$57 per yard, backdrophome.com
