rnie Smith is retired. Mind you, he still works long hours at his fantastic embroidery company, Penn & Fletcher in New York City, acting as President, Coach, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, and most importantly, Creative Genius. But if anyone asks him if he loves his work, he retorts, "I don't work. I'm retired from work. This (raising his arms and turning around in his extra-large 5th floor manufacturing loft) is my hobby".
Penn & Fletcher is quite simply the most extraordinary and exotic embroidery shop you'll ever see. In fact, step off the elevator and immediately you enter a museum of sorts covered from wall to wall with fantastic samples of the most intricate and different embroidery imaginable, along woth flat files filled with ancient patterns and drawings, a gentleman's embroidered waistcoat fromthe 18th century,
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 Penn and Fletcher's Lobby-Museum packed with the firm's fantastic designs. |
and believe it or not, the original headdress worn for Broadway's The King and I. As you stand there, your eyes involuntarily gaze from the ceiling to
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| Company President Ernest Allen Smith with Master Digitizer Alex Herrera. |
the floor... the ceiling because directly under it hang the most amazing valances, constructed for a magazine article and left to be admired by anyone walking through. And on the floor roam Ernie's three cats who are affectionately referred to as the landlords, each de-clawed for obvious reasons. The charm of this place is unmistakable.
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Penn & Fletcher was founded in 1986, after Ernie left the theatrical scenic design business. In many ways the shop is the last of a breed... the one company still doing what over 300 high-level hand embroidery shops in New York alone used to specialize in... artisan embroidery work. Ernie laments, "To our knowledge, the companies that are closest to us in terms of capabilities are in France. And that's sad because there is so much demand." Essentially, Ernie runs an artisan house dealing with decorators, architects, fashion and costume designers, taking fabric and
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Two hand artisans Douglass Esselmann and Kimberly Kotary workingat with guided machines.
Note the many other guided machines behind them
on the racks. |
thread-and　transforming it into most anything that anyone can imagine, as well as reproducing anything that has existed before. From curtains, to valances to costumes to gowns to furniture upholstery to wall coverings, Ernie and his fabulous staff create what is arguably the most creative and beautiful embroidery work in the world. "Some of our more recent jobs include the grand drape for the Seattle Opera House, some reproductions for a bunch of Warner Theatres and the costuming for Kate Beckensale's Ava Gardner character in the new movie The Aviator.
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Penn and Fletcher's deep field Tajima at work.
"Superb quality", says Ernie. |
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