Much acclaim surrounds this week’s release of Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, but for one Kansas firm the film adds to the mystic of one of its oldest, most recognized products.The chintz fabric, Banana Leaves, from the Plainville firm Rose Cumming by Dessin Fournir, serves as the backdrop of Pamela Travers’ ( Thompson) 1961 southern Californian luxury hotel room. The distinctive fabric was selected by the studio to exemplify 1960s contemporary style. However, this timeless pattern, created in the 1920s, has also made a set appearance as wallpaper for 21st century’s Black Eyed Peas video “I Gotta Feeling.”
Drapery made from Banana Leaves in Gold from Rose Cumming by Dessin Fournir. The green colorway was used for “Saving Mr. Banks.”
“We are delighted to share and preserve the history behind one of our most classic collections, just as Disney is bringing to light the pre-production story behind the classic Mary Poppins,” said Chuck Comeau, co-founder of Dessin Fournir.
One might be surprised to learn how this particular pattern came to exist and continues to remain relevant today. The collection’s namesake, Rose Cumming, and her sister, Dorothy, created the pattern Banana Leaves. Dorothy was a silent film star, and her sister Rose was on her way to becoming one of interior design’s founding grand doyennes. The sisters painted banana leaves from Dorothy’s Caribbean estate and pressed them to a scrap fabric. This original fabric document and the full story behind it can be found in the 2012 biography, Rose Cumming Design Inspiration, researched and designed by Dessin Fournir and published by Rizzoli.
“Similarly to the promise Walt Disney made to his daughters to bring Mary Poppins to the big screen, our commitment to preservation extends beyond design and Old World craftsmanship to encompass our choice to base our business in Kansas,” Comeau said. ”
Here, we live and work in a small town with a great quality of life in a rural community that we’re helping to revitalize.”
Written by Ron Fields, Hays Post