Who are you and what do you do in Nostalgia?

My name is Leo Wiznitzer. I am an architect by profession, that does not practice. I used to work in the family business which was textiles, but cheap, closeouts, seconds, lotes and have since gone into first quality goods in Nostalgia together with my partner and wife, Eve.

We're in charge of the purchasing, selecting, contacting, the finding of every type of fabric and accessory for decorating in either contemporary, traditional, avant garde or any style of house or atmosphere that you would like to live in.

In your opinion, what makes Nostalgia special?

What makes Nostalgia special is that we are not the traditional, whatever is in vogue, what everybody else does. We try to do a little bit more in the way of being educational, and bringing things that are starting to come. We don't do things that are "safe". If you go into most furniture stores, for example, you'll see most couches being done in a form of beige. We're trying to bring color, we're trying to bring pattern, we're trying to bring textiles that are usually a year or two ahead of the style when they come in.

The selection of what we have is not comparable to anything anybody else has. Not only in fabrics, but in trim, in sheers, in hardware for curtains, rods, and motorization, shades and blinds.

We are pretty complete and we are very proud of our selection of multinational items in most price ranges. We could stand up with any showroom anywhere in the world and say "We've got what you've got" and maybe even do it better.

You recently visited many of your mills and suppliers. What trends are you seeing worldwide?

There really is not clear trend, there is a little bit of everything. What we're seeing locally is people going minimalistic. That happens for two reasons. 1) it happens because a lot of people are using Panama as a second home so they want something that is easy to maintain. Which is why we opened a factory of Rollers & Shades and Blackout because it provides a good bang for the buck. It is very easy to maintain, it is practical, it is washable. And it goes with the minimalistic idea of people who want to come down 3 months of the year and want something that holds up so it offers very good value as a product.

We are finding more and more people, because Panama's economy has been protected somewhat from the world economic crisis because of the two big projects which is the new set of locks, the widening of the canal and our national infrastructure projects. People are moving up into bigger and better housing. We find that they want to live up to the standards that they can afford.

Now lets not say mistake what we're saying by saying that Nostalgia is an elitist place. We have expensive and fine things, but we also have very reasonably priced things for anybody. So, anybody who comes with an idea that Nostalgia is a place that is very expensive and you can't find anything that you can afford there is something we're continually trying to disprove.

As far as trends and color. A lot of metallics, a lot of mauves, silvers, golds, metallics seems to be the big thing. But a lot of color. Which people seem to be afraid of, they want to stay a little safe. But color is coming in very big.

What interesting products will be seeing arriving into Nostalgia in the coming months?

You're going to see a tremendous amount of variety of fabrics. Linens are coming in very big. Linens for curtains, linens for upholstering. Not a big turn towards green, but a turn towards natural fabrics.

You are going to see two extremes which are the metallics which are very glimmery, and very shiny versus the naturals which are very cottony, very lineny, a lot of embroidery. Whereas a lot of embroidery is usually done on silk, it is now being done on linen.

You're also going to see a wider variety of plainer and simpler hardware for curtains. Meaning that just plain rails, with batons, so that they don't show. A lot less of the very elaborate polls with the versaille-like finials that were either gilded or silver-finished. More towards stainless steel, with modern lucite, modern things, again towards the minimalistic.

A lot of wallpaper. But wallpaper not in your traditional sense of your Jacobean flower, and or the little trees, or little diamonds. A tremendous amount of grasscloth, both real and synthetic, imitations. Papers with a lot of sheen to them. Metallic finishes to the papers. Just a complete variety of that.

But very new things. You think you've seen everything, but you see a hundred more things that are completely unique.

As far as brand names, we've concluded a deal where we're now representing Schumacher. Which is one of the oldest and most establised houses that have a beautiful, beautiful line of fabric with some exclusive designers and also a fantastic line of wallpapers. We also have Lori Weitzner, who does individual wallpapers, is an artist in New York who does beautiful work. We continue with Donghia, we continue with Sahco and Rubelli that are two of the finest houses in Europe. We continue with Harlequin Fabric and Wallpaper. I just can't tell you how many people, because of where we're positioned in the market, keep on wanting us to represent them.

Probably, the most practical product for our weather and because of our style of living and beach and outdoors, a tremendous variety of Sunbrella fabrics. You can dump them in a bucket of clorox and they will not lose color. They can stay outside and they will not rot. But you're not just seeing solids, you're seeing textures, wovens, patterns, stripes. You could do so much with the Sunbrella, you can take the luxury of an indoor environment to an outside area.

What is your favorite individual product at this point?

That's a difficult question to answer. The one thing that both my wife and I do is, we do not buy anything that we would not put in our house. And, if we were to continue on a constant basis remodeling our house every time something new and beautiful came in, we'd be redoing our home 7 or 8 times a year.

Single product.. I think the most fascinating product that we have is probably the line of Phantom insect screens. Because our particular situation here in the tropics with the amount of insects and mosquitoes in the new areas that are being developed. We're so used to having screens that you would walk into and destroy, and the idea that if you have screens on a window or a door that they'd always be visible. The fact that Phantom is retractable, either manual or motorized, is just exciting because you have the screen when the window is open, but when you want the windows closed and you want your view the screen disappears and it doesn't bother your view at all. Which makes it just a fantastic product, it can be used not only for insect screen, but it can be used with the sun control screens or the blackout if you want your windows completely sealed.

Follow up question: You mentioned that you wouldn't buy anything that you wouldn't put in your house. Do you think this limits your buying and the breadth of what Nostalgia offers?

Yes and no. Because, I learned a lot from a fellow friend and architect in Miami whom I have worked with. Where, if you go to 30 apartments that he has done, none of them look the same because what he does is he works with the client's taste and the clients style of living and coordinates that and puts it together. Everything isn't blue, everything is modern, everything isn't paisley.

When I say that I wouldn't buy anything that I wouldn't put in my home. It doesn't mean that it is in a particular style that I like. I can be eclectic, I can be modern, I can be very plain and I can be very colorful. It just has to be nice. It doesn't have fit in a style. Now, why does that affect what we have? There are a lot of stores that do very well, that sell things that we don't have. And probably never will have, because Nostalgia definitely represents the owners personality. We're not like every other store, because we're not like every other person. We like to read up. We like to know what is going on in style. We like to bring things that are fun and exciting. If there's a product that I can go to 7 other stores and see the exactly the same thing, what is the point?

What would you recommend to your potential client, interested in decorating their home?

I would recommend in a potential client to trust their taste. Not to go by what they've seen in everybody elses house. Not to go by what is traditional, or by what they're used to. If they see something that they like.. dare to be bold! Take advantage of our staff and of ourselves who will put it together in a way that will make sense.

The other thing that I would recommend to a lot of people who like to do their own decoration, and to those who can do it very well. However, there are people that just.. let me put it to you this way: There are a lot of very beautiful objects that if you look at it as an object they are absolutely fantastic, but if you put it within a room it can get lost. Or simply don't blend, and don't work. You can't do a house or a room, with individual beautiful objects you have to have something that has balance, coherence and works together. I would strongly recommend if you've not done it before, to get the advice of some very, very good decorators who will work through Nostalgia, where we can recommend them or you can find, where they will work for a percentage or a flat fee, or whatever. I think way too many people do not give the importance or appreciation to people who are specialists in what they do. Just, interior design has to have harmony, things have to make sense.

The other thing people have to ask themselves is if they see a fabric, if they see a piece of furniture. You may love it, but are you still going to love in a week?

(Laughs)

Is it something that you see once, and you say "Wow absolutely fantastic". But two weeks after seeing it on your wall or on your couch you're going to say "Oh god I don't want to sit on that anymore". It's a very fine line, a very fine balance. Unless you're someone who wants to change their house every 6 months.

The other thing is follow a plan. You're not always able to afford to do your entire house at one time. This is especially the case in couples with young kids. You can do kids rooms with fabrics where you can add things on to the same fabric in the same color as they grow older, to make it from a kiddy room, to a teen room, to a semi-adult just by adding and changing a few touches here and there. After a 2 year old turns 6, and turns 12 you don't have to throw everything out. It's like having a house where you do a floorplan for and you say I eventually want to have a house that has 6 bedrooms. Well, you don't need 6 bedrooms when you're recently married and 22, but you have the plans to add-ons and how you want it. Instead of having to toss everything out the window and start again.

So professional advice is a good thing to have. It's not as expensive as people would think. There are various ways and we would be more than happy to give us our advice, which is included in the service of what we sell.