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PRESS RELEASES
Contacts: Vic Emmanuel, Creative Partners, 203-705-9203
Wendy Metros, Henry Ford Museum, 313-982-6125
RARE SILK LOOM DONATED TO HENRY FORD MUSEUM BY INTERNATIONAL FINANCIERS
BORN IN DEARBORN
Dearborn, MI: April 22, 2005 - Three international investors who were
born in Dearborn and raised in Dearborn Heights have donated a rare
and historically significant silk loom to The Henry Ford Museum it was
announced today by executives of the institution.
The 100-year-old Jacquard loom, to be incorporated into an exhibit in
The Henry Ford Museum, is the gift of Anthony G., John J. and Marc R.
Viscogliosi, pioneer investors and market experts in the healthcare
industry. It is one of five looms that wove silk for the President and
First Lady in every White House administration since John F. Kennedy,
including the Bush administration.
The Viscogliosi brothers were raised in Dearborn Heights on Military
Road, along with their sister, Lori. Each of the siblings are graduates
of Dearborn High School; Lori, Anthony and Marc all attended the University
of Michigan -- Dearborn. The three men are principals of Viscogliosi
Brothers, LLC, a Manhattan-based, privately owned venture capital/private
equity and merchant banking firm dedicated to the musculoskeletal/orthopedics
sector of the healthcare industry.
“I spent the formative years of my life in Dearborn, and am now
in a position to give something back to my hometown, and to the great
cultural resource that is The Henry Ford Museum,” said Anthony
Viscogliosi. “The silk loom was a tool that took raw materials
and wove them into brilliant, useable fabric, symbolic of the spirit
and work ethic of this part of America. The loom is also a symbol of
the Industrial Revolution, and the goal of our enterprise, Viscogliosi
Bros., is to be the leader in the revolution taking place in the delivery
of orthopedic healthcare, through the development of innovative joint
replacement implants for all parts of the body.”
Marc Greuther, curator of industrial collections at The Henry Ford,
said, “We are thrilled to finally have a loom of this type. This
is a landmark artifact. The punch card system that enables the loom
to weave complex patterns is in essence the basis of modern computing
systems. It is an artifact that appears old but at the same time operates
in a manner that seems very modern.”
The 2-1/2 ton coarse index point loom was purchased by the Viscogliosi’s
from Scalamandre, formerly of Long Island City in Queens, NY, a renowned
producer of silk products. It stands 14-feet tall, 9-feet wide and 6-feet
deep, and has 576 hooks on the head, set up to weave two panel damasks.
It will be an integral part of the Industrial Revolution exhibit expected
to debut at The Henry Ford in the year to come.
Scalamandre is renowned for its unique designs in silk fabrics. The
company provided the Kennedy White House with reproduction 19th Century
curtains, Renaissance designs for W.R. Hearst’s San Simeon Estate
and the renovations undertaken at Monticello. A Jacquard loom is capable
of producing up to 20 yards of silk a day and the finished products
can run as high as $1,000 a yard.
For more information about VB visit: www.vbllc.com
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