Handmade or hand-selected, we're proud to support exquisite craftsmanship and specialist skills. Join us as we sit down with artisans, curators and designers in our Meet The Designer series.
Sourcing retro inspired pieces the world over, Scaramanga is a lifestyle brand specialising in original vintage and antique furniture. We sit down with owner and founder Carl Morenikeji to discuss best-selling pieces, a Hollywood appearance and the inspiration behind the brand.
Introduce yourself! What is Scaramanga? And what do you specialise in?
I’m Carl, owner and founder of Scaramanga, which is an original lifestyle brand. We specialise in original vintage & antique furniture – we don’t sell reproductions. As well, we design original vintage style leather bags for men and women. Scaramanga is a small but growing, passionate brand where the originality and quality of what we sell always comes first.
How did Scaramanga come about? Is there a story behind the name?
I’m one of the fortunate ones that got to turn my passion for travelling and love of vintage into a job. I spent years travelling the globe, always exploring little bazaars or markets taking in beautiful old world items that told a story of place and time. I brought back an old leather satchel, small boxes and handmade leather journals found in the ancient town of Jaisalmer, India in ‘99. All my friends and family in the UK loved these items kept asking ‘where can I get that?’…so I thought why not bring more items back and sell them. I was ready to start something for myself and thought this could be a really great business, one that I would never tire of.
So with just a couple thousand pounds, I bought some vintage pieces and had some leather satchels made in India and started selling them online from my attic space. Fast forward to today and Scaramanga is an internationally recognised brand selling roughly 40 styles of leather bags and stocking an incredible amount of vintage furniture & interiors to a very specific group of customers, trade customers and stockists.
And the name itself – I’m just a big Bond fan! I loved the name of the suave hit-man villain in the classic Bond film ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’, Scaramanga, so decided it would be a great business name. A cool retro name for a retro-inspired business!
Where do you source your furniture from? Can you share any interesting stories of your travels?
We source our furniture from all over the globe. A great deal of it comes from Jodpur, India which showcases the biggest variety and quality in vintage furniture in Asia. The craftsmanship of these old pieces is remarkable, not to mention the detail. You just can’t find anything else like it.
I also travel around the UK, visiting auction houses and vintage fairs, but the best pieces come from old schools or post offices that are refurbished or closing down. There is so much history in furniture whether it comes from an ancient town in India or a post office in Fife, we love to be able to give that story to our customers.
What are your best-selling items?
Our best-selling items are our original wooden chests. From size to colour, each is different to the next and with its own unique history. We are also working more and more with restaurants and bars, sourcing metal chairs and tables in large amounts.
Our leather bags are of course one of our best-selling items, our loyal customers just wait for the next one to come out. We aim to launch 2 new collections a year.
Have you had any interesting clients? We’ve heard a rumour some of your pieces have featured on the silver screen!
We can confirm the rumour is true! We source lots of furniture and accessories for props buyers. Our pieces have been seen in huge Hollywood hits such as The Hobbit, Maleficent, and Tarzan.
And it all started by chance, too! We were contacted by the Royal Shakespeare Company who were looking for worn vintage bags for use in their King Lear production. Word soon spread after fulfilling that single request and the next thing we know the production team for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows got in touch looking for salvaged chests and trunks - the rest, as they say, is history.
And finally, what are your trend predictions for A/W 2017?
I think people are becoming more confident in styling given all the inspiration on social media, so we will see a trend for eclectic interiors. Mixing styles, eras, colours, materials and patterns will be its own statement. It wasn’t long ago that people were buying sets of furniture for any given room, but now it’s about home interiors that complement each other without matching.
Additionally, people are more and concerned about where their furniture comes from and the quality of it. This is where Scaramanga stands out as a company. You can buy a really special piece from us that has been hand selected and it comes with a great original story of time and place. It will last for years and become a cherished statement piece that will take from home to home.
