Old Havana Style: Nostalgia and taste of forbidden fruit flavor designs

By C. Harkonyi Schaub, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/12/00

Cuba has been described as the gem of the Caribbean with its mist-shrouded mountains, orchid-filled forests and astounding architecture that looks more like it belongs in a great European city than the tropics.

It's no wonder Cuban exiles dream of returning home and restoring their homeland to its pre-Castro splendor. Even those of us with no emotional ties to Cuba are curious to visit this beguiling island that dangles like a forbidden fruit just 90 miles from Key West. We picture the things we heard about but never saw -- the sensuous Havana of the '50s, where Frank Sinatra sang at the Tropicana and Ernest Hemingway dines at El Floridita.

Combine these feelings of nostalgia with America's obsession for everything latin -- from the first Latin Grammy awards to Cuban coffee -- and it was only a matter of time that interior design would catch Cuban fever.

"Americans have always been fascinated with Cuba because there is a certain mystique about it," said Jackie Hirschault, vice-president of public relations for the American Furniture Manufacturers Association. "Cuba is also well known for its colorful style and rich cultural heritage. So it's no surprise that the country has been a source of inspiration for designers and furniture manufacturers.

"In fact, I think consumers will begin to see more Cuba-inspired produces, especially in home furnishings."

This trend we'll call "Old Havana Style" is taking over the country in everything from furniture to fabric to artwork.

Much of the furniture resembles European colonial or plantation-style with caning, carving and dark wood accented with decorative wrought iron. The fabrics range from linen the color of old tobacco leaves to geometric patterns composed of colorful cigar brands.

And the artwork often reflects symbols of Cuba's heyday, such as a Havana sugar mill or a steamship poster.

In South Florida, the movement is being fueled by those who left Cuba as children and are trying to preserve their heritage. Angela and Joseph Ortega's Old Havana Furniture Co. in Hollywood, Fla., reproduces furnishings inspired by old photographs and books. Aimee Martin Gramatikos and George G. Gramatikos of Miami sell artwork inspired by posters and stamps from pre-Castro days through their Ambrosio Martin Art Collection of Old Cuba.

Nationally, "Havana" has become the new design buzzword.

Pennsylvania House and Thomasville stamped the moniker on recent furniture lines. Scalamandre and Mulberry Home have introduced fabrics. Even Pottery Barn featured a woven Havana trunk in its Early Fall 2000 catalog.

And publishers are cranking out books on Cuban art and architecture, such as "Living in Cuba" (St. Martin's Press, $40) by Simon McBride and Alexandra Black, and "The Houses of Old Cuba" (Thames & Hudson, $45).

So why Cuba now?

Michele Lamb, a trend tracker who publishes The Trend Curve, sees the focus on Cuba as part of the overall Latin mania and an offshoot of design's current interest in tropical style.

"The Latin community within the US continues to grow," she said from her office in Minneapolis. "There are people who understand this design from a cultural viewpoint and others who are more exposed to Latin culture than ever before. Finally, we have the notion that Cuba my open up again."

This design trend, experts agree, most likely started to emerge at the October 1998 International Home Furnishings Market with the introduction of Pennsylvania House's "Old Havana" and the "Havana" segment of Thomasville's "Ernest Hemingway" collection of furniture.