Is Backdrop Schumacher’s rebellious little sister? Backdrop cofounder and creative director Natalie Ebel said that description sounds pretty accurate. “We’re really playful,” she told WWD.

Storied American textile firm Schumacher, whose creations were embraced by writer Edith Wharton and 19th-century decorator Elsie de Wolfe, bought edgy Los Angeles-based firm Backdrop in 2021. The marriage allows Schumacher to tap into Backdrop’s new generation clientele and in turn, Backdrop benefits from Schumacher’s expertise. On Tuesday, Backdrop unveiled a four-piece wallpaper collection that filtered archival Schumacher designs from the 20th century through its own abstract lens.

“We always play with scale, redraw [the designs] and add our own elements. It was really about turning them into a new medium and reinterpreting them for today’s designs,” Ebel enthused, remarking on the first time she was allowed to enter into New York City-based Schumacher’s archives with white gloves.

“It is an absolute treasure trove. And I didn’t go in there looking for anything. I just wanted to explore and found amazing boxes with names like the ‘Opera House,’ ‘Art Deco Radio City’ and ‘Frank Lloyd Wright,’” Ebel continued.

Backdrop, she said, started as a paint business that sought to make color memorable, accessible and impactful, captivating a younger clientele with hues like Disco Nap and Color of the Year.

“We started this company as really like a paint business. Our goal was to bring color and celebration to interiors, an area we’d seen neglected…paint was always treated like an industrial hardware purchase,” Ebel said.

The four designs include Palazzo Panel Set, which was inspired by a 1950s-era fabric based on an original drawing by 17th-century Italian artist and architect Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena. Backdrop took it and rescaled the design to heighten a greater sense of architecture, light and depth.

Digitally printed to retain all of its detail, Backdrop has also added a hand-screen metallic print on the main statue as a nod to the original fabric’s gold touches.

The Edith is a surrealist update on historic fabrics like St. Claire Le Chateau, which served as the basis for the Cherubs in Edith. Sainte-Claire Du Chateau was a property in France purchased by Edith Wharton in 1927.

Tanbark was reinterpreted from a 1957 fabric from Schumacher’s archives originally designed by illustrator John Groth. Backdrop redrew the original horses, creating an abstract, watercolour layered effect that infused depth and a narrative arc to the gestural horse drawings.

Finally, Backdrop also unfurled Horses, which was originally created in the 1950s as an equestrian dreamscape. This time it was brought back to life with illustrations full of character and expressive gestural linework.

The Archive campaign was shot by fashion photographer Keith Oshiro and was inspired by early Schumacher ads, subtly reimagining the way that wallpaper and textiles were presented and channeling some of their playfulness and charm.

Backdrop was founded in 2018 by Natalie and her husband Caleb Ebel, and quickly gained a cult following for its selection of paint colors. The firm later collaborated with Madewell, Barbie, Porsche and others on limited-edition colors.

On the fashion front, Schumacher, which was founded in New York by Parisian Frederic Schumacher in 1880, has been a pioneer in collaborations from its dawn.

Its first fashion tie up was with French fashion designer Paul Poiret in 1930, and in 1958 it produced a collection of prints with visionary designer Elsa Schiaparelli. 

In 2024, the American firm released a collaboration with the lifestyle brand founded by Colombian designer Johanna Ortiz, which included a collection of fabrics, wall coverings and trims that reflect her eclectic runway fashions and South American spirit.