Kaplan, Ziccardi form marketing co.

By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 10/22/2001 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Burt Kaplan and Susan Ziccardi have formed Artisan Group, a home furnishings textile and marketing service organization.

The new firm, based at 79 Madison Ave. here, will develop concepts, design and merchandise products as Artisan Home Textiles LLC.

Kaplan, formerly president of Cone Decorative Fabrics, will be the managing partner, and Ziccardi, formerly design director at Cone Decorative Fabrics, will be responsible for the total design aesthetic and the decorative footprint of the company.

Initially, Artisan has signed an agreement with Turkish-based Aydin Textile Turkey, a family-owned business of more than $100 million, Kaplan said.

"We will style, merchandise, price and be the exclusive sales group in North America for Aydin," Kaplan added. The company is a jacquard mill with air jet looms, 27-inch repeat heads, a dye house, and producer of velvet jacquards.

A second program, Kaplan said, "is an agreement with P/Kaufmann where each season we will provide a focused line of converted product for the furniture industry." This program, Kaplan said, will be marketed under P/Kaufmann's Bloomcraft division name.

As the company grows, Kaplan added, "we will be creating totally coordinated products for all market segments that are currently defined by lifestyle trends."