The Vera Companies

Vera Neumann (born Vera Salaff; July 24, 1907 – June 15, 1993) was an American artist and entrepreneur best known for her boldly colored linen patterns and scarves signed "Vera" and featuring a ladybug.

Vera was the third of four children born to Fanny and Meyer Salaff who encouraged each of their children to find a passion and follow it – in her case drawing and painting. Her father gave her 50 cents for each sketchbook she could fill with her drawings as well as taking her to The Metropolitan Museum of Art every Sunday. Ultimately, each of the Salaff children chose a creative career path. After high school, Vera attended art school at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and enrolled in classes at the Traphagen School of Design after graduation. Her first job was as a fashion illustrator and then a textile designer on Seventh Avenue in New York. Shortly afterwards, she left to design fabric and murals for children's rooms.

Vera met and married Austrian George Neumann whose family background was in textiles. The two moved into a small studio on 17th street where they decided to merge their career backgrounds and began their company, Printex. They built a small silkscreen printing press to fit on their dining room table which was only large enough to produce linen placemats. These were then cured in their kitchen oven.

They were soon joined by their friend Frederick Werner Hamm, a recent German immigrant who also had a background in textiles. Hamm used his sales skills to secure their first order from the department store B. Altman. The company outgrew the apartment and moved into a larger one, which soon became too small, so they moved into a large derelict 1810 Georgian Mansion near the Hudson River in Ossining, NY.

Walter Erhard worked alongside Vera and created 50% of the designs. His position was Art Director and later became a Vice President as well. He and Vera traveled the world to study and photograph other cultures and their artwork to give them ideas to use in designs. As well, Walter Erhard took thousands of photos in his travels and well as purchased folkart, some of which was on display in the Vera studio/showroom (now available for sale online). Walter Erhard also illustrated children's books, and designed for Humpty Dumpty magazine, as well as having his own card company called Impress. There is a website being developed which will give more details about this amazing artist who is deserving of recognition.

With World War II in full swing, Vera found linen supplies dwindling and went in search of alternative materials for her products. She came across some parachute silk at an army surplus store, an event which marked the beginning of her scarf business. She kept her signature on art transferred to the scarves, thus creating the first signature scarf in history. "Vera scarves" became immediately popular and Vera herself was soon on first-name terms with well-known women around the country. Marilyn Monroe was a fan as were Grace Kelly and First Lady Bess Truman, who selected Vera fabric from Schumacher, Inc. to decorate the third-floor solarium windows and upholstery of the White House. Women from around the country also chose Vera products for their color and cheerful prints.

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Wikipedia