Woodwork & Reports
Traditional Trim
From crowns and chair rails to full-paneled walls, decorative moldings are the architectural elements that bring a room back in time while giving it a new life.
Today, there are several companies using a combination of old-world techniques and new-century technology to recreate timeless period-style moldings that are meant to create beauty for generations to come.
DecoCraft USA
A one-stop fabricator and installer of plaster moldings for interiors, DecoCraft USA offers a wide selection of existing and custom profiles.
Established 20 years ago, Brooklyn, New York-based DecoCraft USA is a family-owned company that has long-term partnerships with architects, designers, and contractors.
“We are distinguished by the high quality of our plaster products, our quick production time and our relationship reliability, which drive our continued commitment to excellence,” says manager Mel Klein. “And we are one of the few molding-design companies that still employ the plastering method.”
The company, which ships throughout the country, is an outgrowth of Trimworx, which installs high-end projects. “We found that many of the plaster moldings purchased from other suppliers were of inferior quality and fraught with production-time challenges,” Klein says. “To satisfy our customers, DecoCraft was formed, and now the two companies work together.”
Decorators Supply Corp.
Using a formula for composition ornaments that dates back to the 18th-century British architect Robert Adams, Decorators Supply creates historic-style architectural and ornamental details.
Based in Chicago, the company, founded in 1883, is renowned in the industry for its history, legacy, and dedication to craft.
“We still have models and carvings that are over 100 years old,” says owner Mark Marynick. “If we can’t do it, we can find someone who can from our network of craftsmen and craftswomen.”
Decorators Supply’s products have been installed in major projects all over the country: Chicago’s Field Museum features some of the company’s original work from the 1893 World’s Fair; the first floor of the New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman is decorated with its products; and The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, showcases its ornamentation.
In addition, the company’s products have co-starred in a variety of TV shows and movies, including “Mary Poppins, “Home Alone,” and HBO’s “The Gilded Age.”
Decorators Supply also offers custom plaster fabrication and installation.
“We’re starting to 3D-scan our collection of 20,000 wood carvings, which will allow us to 3D- print any of our patterns in any size,” Marynick says, adding that most of these pieces are not in the company’s catalog.
Driwood Moulding Co.
The craftsmen at Driwood Moulding Co. specialize in creating architecturally correct embossed moldings, millwork, mantelpieces, paneling, and architectural embellishments.
“For nearly a century, we’ve worked diligently to ensure that every detail we make is architecturally correct in proportion, scale, and design,” says the designer William Wood, who has been with company for more than four decades. “That level of consistency and correctness requires commitment and discipline from every one of us. In fact, it’s what inspires us. So that whenever we bring our beauty, history, and artistry into a space, we know it’s as perfect as we could make it.”
Based in South Carolina, Driwood, a family-owned company, started out doing business in the New York area in 1940 and was bought by a customer, Charles E. Mitchell, in 1958; he was building his home and wanted ornamental moldings that weren’t readily available.
Wood says he and the other craftsmen are inspired by “the love for traditional architecture, the warmth and beauty of solid-wood molding, and millwork, the skill required for such artistry, the moldings’ versatility, and combinations that create virtually endless opportunities for a custom design. The clients we meet and now call our friends and their families that return to us years later also love traditional architecture and trust us to design and build a mantel, a bookcase, a room, or an entire home that they may have been dreaming of since visiting their favorite place or architectural landmark.”
JP Weaver Co.
Renowned internationally as the premier maker of elegant interior architectural ornament, JP Weaver Co. has been instrumental in preserving and promulgating the old-world trade secrets of manufacturing composition ornaments in the United States.
The California-based family-owned business, established in 1914, designs and manufactures custom gypsum, flexible resin, and composition ornament. Founded by Joseph Pearce Weaver, it originally produced small composition ornament, mostly for furniture and picture frames.
In 1980, after Lenna Tyler Kast became the owner, she revived the nearly lost art of producing ornate architectural molding, eventually taking on large, high-profile projects such as restoration work for the California State Capitol. It was she who created the company’s signature “Petitsin” line, an ornate collection inspired by historical European ornament named in honor of her father.
JP Weaver has done projects around the world. Its ornamentation was in the 1997 blockbuster film “The Titanic” and is in several historic buildings ranging from the Grand Ballroom of Mar-A-Lago to the public rooms of The Plaza hotel in New York City.
“Sometimes I think we are all just a bunch of molding nerds,” says Senior Designer Stephanie Croce. “We all come to the business with different skills, and yet we all just simply love and appreciate the craft and history of ornamental moldings and what they can do to transform a space from ordinary to pretty extraordinary.”
Zepsa Industries
Established in 1980, Zepsa Industries engineers, fabricates, and installs custom architectural woodwork, metalwork, stairs, windows, and doors for large projects in remote locations for the elite apex of the construction market, primarily for estate residences and luxury yachts.
The family-owned company, which has 120 employees and is based in North Carolina, was founded by Ed Zepsa; it is now owned by his sons, Brian and Peter.
It started as a custom stair shop and expanded over the decades into complete interior wood finishes—cabinets, trim, paneled ceilings, fitted rooms, interior doors, decorative metalwork, and custom doors and windows.
“It’s an honor to get to work with the very best and most demanding designers and contractors in the country and alongside other tradespeople who are also the best at what they do,” says President Steve Ballenger, who joined Zepsa as a helper in the rough-mill division in 1986. “This passion is elevated when a contractor, designer, or client calls us back for their next job.” PH
