Introducing Tratto by Spinneybeck
Spinneybeck is pleased to introduce Tratto, a new leather architectural screening system. First developed during the Industrial Revolution to drive machinery, Belting Leather’s thickness and rigidity has since found new design applications including furniture strapping, table inlays, and wall tiles.
Emanuela Frattini Magnusson, inspired by this durable and unique leather, experimented with the leather, slicing then stretching it. She found that the thickness provided a tensile strength that could be incorporated into a decorative screen. Tratto, meaning traction or stretch in Italian, is stretched CNC cut Belting Leather held in traction within an aluminum frame with a clear satin anodized finish. The interesting play of positive and negative space affords space separation without blocking light or sight lines and is materially efficient since it stretches the leather to more than twice its length.
Appropriate for contract, hospitality, and residential environments, Tratto is available in several standard widths and heights and multiple screens may be linked together. The screening system ships complete with top and bottom suspension hardware as well as suspension cable that may be cut to length to accommodate varying existing conditions.
Spinneybeck’s President, Roger Wall, who worked closely with the designer in developing the modular screening system explained, “We’re pleased to continue our longstanding collaboration with Emanuela Frattini Magnusson and carry on our focus on leather architectural products with a new use for a traditionally industrial material.“
About Emanuela Frattini Magnusson
Emanuela Frattini Magnusson is currently the Global Head of Design for Bloomberg. She was the founder and principal of EFM Design, an international, award-winning, multi-disciplinary practice that spans architecture, interiors, product design, brand development, and graphics. Notable projects include the Aqua townhouse development project in Miami, retail concepts for Russell Athletic, offices and showrooms for Knoll International, a Times Square Hotel and restaurant, as well as number of residential projects in the United States and Europe, including the renovation of a Frank Lloyd Wright House in Rye, New York.
Throughout her career, she has created award-winning, top-selling products for leading manufacturers, including her Propeller Tables for Knoll, and a collection of accessories sold exclusively through the Museum of Modern Art. Emanuela served as Creative Director of Spinneybeck from 2004 to 2013 and developed the floor tile, pulls, and rug collections as well as
many products for Spinneybeck’s promotional program, “The Club”. She has also served as a visiting faculty member at Parsons School of Design and at Yale University School of Architecture. Trained in architecture at the Milan Politecnico, she also holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
About Spinneybeck
Spinneybeck introduced full grain, aniline dyed Italian leathers to North America in 1962. With more than 1,000 colorways in over 30 families of leather upholstery as well as architectural products, Spinneybeck is recognized as a leading provider of high-quality leather to architects and interior designers.
Over the decades, the company has evolved from a supplier of full grain, aniline dyed Italian leather for upholstery and aircraft interiors to a manufacturer of pioneering, leather architectural products that cover the floor, walls, and everywhere in between. In addition, Spinneybeck’s work with industry design leaders in the fields of sculpture, architecture, interior design, and textiles has generated inventive leathers, color work, patterned wall tiles, drawer pulls, and sculpted wall systems. Regardless of the application, Spinneybeck has consistently held the same high standards for quality, originative products, environmental practices, and customer service.
