Zak Profera

Zak Profera founded Zak & Fox in 2012; his textile and wallpaper collections are inspired by the founder and creative director’s insatiable appetite to discover the world’s most amazing sights and visit far-reaching destinations. With those goals at hand, there is an ever-expanding and evolving list of inspirations to help create designs that expand traditional boundaries.

In his New York studio, Profera leads a team of skilled artists, designers, craftspeople, and collaborations. The company makes textiles and wall coverings for the luxury interior design trade; working with teams from around the world including commercial manufacturers, artisans, and hand-weavers.

Wherever Zak goes, his fateful companion, Shinji is not far behind. As such, the pair’s special and long relationship inspired the company’s name. The characters represent “the spirit of ‘man and dog,’ figural archetypes that have coexisted throughout history for thousands of years, yet still find themselves reborn again and again through literature and cinema.” The quote “a boy and his dog” is one that we’ve all heard often; of course, “a girl and her dog” is just as special. Regardless of the pairing, there is something so special about that bond and the unconditional love that accompanies it. Profera was correct to use this relationship as his inspiration for creating collections that manage to represent the world’s endless possibilities and life’s boundless adventures.

Earlier this year, Profera launched a 19-piece nautically-themed collection called “Sea Change.” Four years in the making, research included time spent at The Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. As a re-created 19th-century village, the location, an 18-acre campus, was perfect for “Sea Change’s” photoshoot.

Among the designs, our favorites include the patchwork-patterned linen “Mariner” that tells (courtesy of Remodelista), “the story of the lone seafarer who mends his weather-worn sails with no more than a whalebone needle.” In addition, we love the 100% linen “Cassiopea” that is designed with waves and a jellyfish called cassiopeia that spends the majority of its life floating upside down, near the ocean floor. Finally, we love the simplicity of Alga, a wallpaper that is “a nostalgic vision, of simple fronds and seaweeds fluttering in the shallow waters of tide pools.” Driven by relentless curiosity and dedication to detail, each collection is a new trek beyond boundaries.

Profera hopes that his work is able to tackle some of the issues that have risen in the “antiquated textile industry.” As such, the approach he takes is different… his aim is for textiles and wall-coverings to inspire rather than pigeonhole his clients.

Currently, Zak & Fox is working on a collection of outdoor fabric. This project has been in the works for over four years because outdoor-friendly fibers are quite limited and there is not a lot of space for innovation within the market. In addition, “Addendum” is new project that is due out in September. As the name suggests, it is an addition to the brand’s most successful offerings in new colorways.

Collaboration is another key to the magic that Profera creates. Thus far, Zak & Fox has collaborated with Apparatus, Soho House, and Jamb. For the acclaimed Apparatus, the brand adapted a hand-painted Gabriel Henifar design, “Strada Study.” Specifically, the design examines the effects of layering in nature.

Jamb is an English furniture and lighting company that has set up residence inside Zak & Fox’s showroom in New York City,. The combination of Jamb’s lighting collection and 18th-century style upholstery points to the relevancy between the two companies’ ethos.

Finally, Soho House asked Zak & Fox to design a custom throw for the opening of the brand’s new Amsterdam location. The design was inspired by Soho House’s location and the building’s enormous stained glass window. Overlooking the Single Canal, the building’s Art Deco interiors and features are beautifully portrayed as an interesting textile.