kate and andy spade’s apartment

margot tanenbaum’s bathroom in the movie the royal tanenbaums

gino’s, the italian restaurant at 780 lexington avenue in new york

in the last issue of the new york mag featuring kate and andy spade’s apartment, there is this shot of the bathroom with the famous zebra wallpaper! i first noticed it in one of my favorite movie, “the royal tanenbaums” and was very surprised when walking uptown i saw the same wallpaper in a very charming restaurant, i was wondering is it the chicken or the eggs, which come first? well today heather clawson from habitually chic gave us the answer plus a nice story about it:

“gino circiello, who although born in buenes aires had an italian father who worked as a chef so after he immigrated to the united states, gino decided to open an Italian restaurant at 780 lexington avenue in new york with two of his friends.” according to the new york times, mr. circiello was a hunter without the means to pay for an african safari, but he reasoned that he could at least afford zebras on his wallpaper. “he commissioned his friend franco scalamandre to design wallpaper depicting leaping zebras pursued by arrows. the wallpaper is now synonymous with gino’s and made the place a ny institution.“

i have also read that wes anderson was a huge fan of the zebra wallpaper which is why he used it for margot tanenbaum’s bedroom and bathroom in the movie the royal tanenbaums. the zebra wallpaper is available from scalamandre. love it! by pp’