The Delicious World of Flavor Paper
by: Jenelle Davis | posted: Jun 1, 2009
Flavor Paper is not your usual wallpaper company.
But then with pattern names such as Flower of Love (conveniently available in both Money Green and Peep Show Pink), Fishnet or Shear Decent, normalcy wouldn’t be the first word that comes to mind.
John Sherman, the creator and mastermind behind the highly creative and very successful company, is not afraid to take chances. “We like shocking people, that’s what we like to do. The whole game has been to flip wallpaper around.”
Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Sherman moved to New Orleans from San Francisco in 1998 to attend Tulane’s business school. Over the years, Sherman has tried his hand in everything, working as a private chef to blues and jazz talent management. Of course, like most of New Orleans, Sherman declares, “I have always loved the food and music here.”
Having dabbled in a stunning array of career choices, spreading his time out across several cities, in 2003 Sherman was presented with a tantalizing offer. “I was flipping an apartment in Miami when I got a call about a guy in Oregon who was on the verge of burning the entire contents of a wallpaper company from the 1970s. If I could get to Oregon by the next day and find a way to move the stuff out of there, then I could have everything.” He adds, “I didn’t know anything about wallpaper, I didn’t even know anyone with wallpaper—it had all disappeared.”
Leaving what may have seemed like his better judgment behind at the time, Sherman jumped on a plane, rented a truck in Portland when he arrived, and loaded up his enormous find.
The adventure doesn’t come close to ending there.
In order to prep his star find, a 50-foot-long, 6000-pound, steel vacuum printing table, for the arduous journey to its new home in New Orleans, Sherman had the legs cut off, rented a 54-foot-long trailer and hired a log lifter to get it into the flatbed. “Of course,” he recalls, “it was perfect that the business was in Oregon because it was easy to find the tools needed to move the stuff.”
Once in New Orleans, a home for the steel behemoth had to be found. The building, still the current home of Flavor Paper, was located quickly.
The next step, however, was not easily accomplished. “There were no books on the subject (of making wallpaper). I had to figure everything out from scratch!” Sherman recalled. “I hired Glen, a local poster printer, to teach me how to print.” The company was just the two of them in the beginning, and Sherman admits, “the first three years were an uphill battle.”
Since then, the Flavor League has grown slightly, incorporating the design skills of Dan Funderburgh, Natalie Wright, and Emily and Josh Minnie to name a few. Using everything from scanned photographs or images to simply employing their Illustrator prowess, Sherman assures that “we can start with anything and make the paper from there.”
Flavor Paper is not based on a typical business model. Rather, creativity and collaborations have primarily come before making a sale. “We like to get people involved, to go through the artistic process with them,” explains Sherman.
A combination of Flavor Paper’s ingenious designs with Sherman’s genuine love of the business has helped to fuel the company’s inevitable success. It is also their free-spirited and dynamic approach to design that has garnered them an impressive roster of clients that continues to grow. “I like to get creative with it. How far can we take silk screening?” Sherman contends that the designs are often based on what he calls “the shock and awe theory of wallpaper.” Flavor Paper’s creativity even includes a series of scratch-and-sniff wallpaper.
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn will be the home of the printing company’s new flagship store, featuring a brand new, redesigned “state-of-the-art ancient art” printing table, as Sherman explains. The day-to-day functions of the printer will be highlighted as “street level performance art,” easily viewed through the large lower level picture window.
The second floor of the new space will challenge the traditional norms of viewing wallpaper swatches. “Instead of having to flip through a book, a client can visit the display room and be surrounded by huge 8’ x 10’ panels of wallpaper,” says Sherman. In addition, people interested in creating their own designs can see them projected onto one of the panels in the colors of their choice.
Not to worry, Sherman assured that he doesn’t want to “abandon New Orleans. We’ll maintain as much of a presence here as before.” Although the company’s wallpaper printing headquarters will be based in the new Brooklyn location, this move comes with an added bonus for the New Orleans location, as the focus there will be changed to fabric printing. Not only will they be producing, among other things, brightly colored printed pillows, the location will serve as Dirty Coast’s t-shirt production location.
Fans of Flavor Paper can now also look forward to the “Flavor of the Month,” a new challenge for the Flavor League to design and produce a new paper every month. To keep posted on developments with their new store, or to try your hand at designing your very own wallpaper, visit www.flavorleague.com.
