Mrs. John L. Strong is a privately held American luxury company and manufacturer of custom papers and
stationery. Founded in 1929 by Mrs. John L. (Flora) Strong, the company has created papers and custom luxury products for seven presidential families, royal houses, prominent members of international society, film stars and celebrities.
Mrs. Strong offers hand-engraving to its clients. Mrs. Strong's bespoke products display a range of crafts which are rarely used by others in the industry, including hand
engraving of
die
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
s in
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
, hand-stamping of dies, hand-mixing of custom
varnish
Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain. It usually has a yellowish shade from the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmented as desired, and is sold commercially in various ...
ink
Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...
s, hand-beveling and bordering, and hand-lining of envelopes. Mrs. Strong creates its own 100% cotton archival quality papers in its signature color "Strong's Vanilla" based on Mrs. Strong's original formulas.
History
Mrs. John L. Strong (née Flora Feldstein) established her eponymous firm in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929. Joining forces with her sister, the owner of a luxury
trousseau
Trousseau may refer to:
*A dowry
*The wardrobe of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing
*A hope chest, glory box or its contents
*Trousseau (grape), a wine grape also known as Bastardo
** Trousseau Gris, a white mutation of the ...
shop called Bournefield Linens, Mrs. Strong began selling wedding and social papers to New York's elite from Bournefield's location at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Mrs. Strong's business soon outstripped the space at Bournefield, and she moved her location twice, first to 714
Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...
, and later to the landmark 699 Madison Avenue, originally built as a New York home for the firm
Fortnum & Mason, where the firm remains with a fifth floor atelier for private clients and a duplex ground floor boutique.
Mrs. Strong joined the "Street of Shops" on the first floor at Henri Bendel's in the 1950s. Mrs. Strong also sold through Gump's Department store in San Francisco. From her locations Mrs. Strong created papers for the
Duke of Windsor and
Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor,
Barbara Hutton, the
Rockefeller Rockefeller is a German surname, originally given to people from the village of Rockenfeld near Neuwied in the Rhineland and commonly referring to subjects associated with the Rockefeller family. It may refer to:
People with the name Rockefeller fa ...
,
Astor
Astor may refer to:
People
* Astor (surname)
* Astor family, a wealthy 18th-century American family who became prominent in 20th-century British politics
* Astor Bennett, a character in the Showtime television series ''Dexter''
* Ástor Piazzol ...
,
Vanderbilt, and
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
families, as well as
Bette Davis,
Diana Vreeland,
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy,
Barbara Paley, and other icons of style.
After the death of Mrs. Strong in 1979, the firm was sold by Strong's heirs to Robert and Joy Lewis.
In 2002, the company was purchased by financier
Jeffrey Lubin and his wife, designer
Nannette Brown.
On May 21, 2009,
Nannette Brown announced that she would close the business. On September 29, 2009, Crain's New York Business reported that the brand had been purchased in an auction (after filing for Chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of New York in August) by Houston-based private equity firm J.P. Kotts & Co.
[{{Cite web, url=http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090929/FREE/909299991, title=Luxury stationer gets a reprieve, date=29 September 2009]
Sources
Flora Strong, Born 28 July 1896, died New York March, 1979.
Source: Social Security Death Index, http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Bush, and Clinton, Source: MJLS Archives, NYC
Papers have been made for members of the Royal Houses of Great Britain, Greece, and Jordan, as well as various Princely Houses. Source: MJLS Archives, NYC
Vogue, Conde Nast Publications, May 2006
AIA Guide to New York
Privately held companies based in New York (state)
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009
Design companies established in 1929
1929 establishments in New York City