With typical 1960's karma, the company shares its anniversary year with the Woodstock music festival, the tie-dyed denizens of which sparked Romanoff's interest in the interplay between textiles and pigment. The dashiki-clad designer was soon testing out various resist-dyed vehicles: leathers, couture fashions, whole-room environments. But it was Weathered Walls, the hand-painted wall coverings launched in 1979, that became the house specialty—and won a Roscoe Award from this magazine. Other honors followed, along with showcases at museums.
Romanoff's penchant for experimentation has never waned, whether he's draping canvas banners over a building in Chicago or creating a geisha girl in beaded wall covering for a sushi restaurant in New York. Indeed, invention remains of the essence not only for Romanoff himself—who continues to work despite an ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease—but also for his wife, Joyce, the company's president, and niece, Laura, vice president.
