Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1195866
62 DALLAS PAPERCITY DESIGN AWARDS (continued from 60) T he 2019 Bill Hutchinson Award was presented to Marcelena Recatune, founder of Larru Leather Company. More than 35 years ago, Recatune apprenticed under one of Dallas' few remaining bookbinders, learning the nearly lost art of hand-tooling leather. The ancient craft appealed to Recatune's love of cultural history, gleaned from a childhood in Persia with her cultural-attaché parents. She later studied anthropology at Southern Methodist University. In 1983, she founded Larru Leather Company, which has since become an invaluable resource for national interior designers and private clients. Working in fine calfskin, along with exotics such as shagreen and parchment, Recatune and her assistant, Alejandro Mejia, create hand-tooled leather furniture, wall tiles, desk blotters, bound books, and accessories. It's not just the techniques that are time-honored. Much of the artistry is accomplished with Recatune's sizeable collection of vintage and antique leather- working tools, including some dating to the 1700s, which she brought from Paris. Recatune is also an expert in Suminagashi, the 12th-century marbleizing technique perfected in Japan and later used in Europe for paper or fabric book covers. The rarefied artistry of hand tooling naturally appeals to an exalted audience. Larru Leather's clients include Ross and Margot Perot, President George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Ted Turner, Jerry Jones, Woody Allen, and Oliver Stone, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Barry Diller, as well as prominent designers David Easton, Stephen Sills, Emily Summers, Jan Showers, David Cadwallader, and Joseph Minton. They may be dying arts, but Recatune expects hand tooling and marbleizing to thrive at her Dallas Design District studio for a long time to come. "Alejandro started as my apprentice in 1997 when he was 19," she says. "When the time comes, he'll have someone apprentice under him." Rebecca Sherman THE BILL HUTCHINSON AWARD IS NAMED FOR THE MAN WHO HAS DONE SO MUCH TO GALVANIZE THE DESIGN COMMUNITY AND MOVE THE DALLAS DESIGN DISTRICT INTO NATIONAL PROMINENCE. THE AWARD HONORS AN INDIVIDUAL, FOUNDATION, OR COMPANY THAT HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THE DALLAS DESIGN COMMUNITY. 2019 BILL HUTCHINSON AWARD MARCELENA RECATUNE OF LARRU LEATHER THANK YOU TO THE DALLAS PAPERCITY DESIGN AWARDS 2019 SPONSORS Marcelena Recatune