Women in Design
Paving the Way with Dara Caponigro
For this week’s installment of our “Women in Design: Paving the Way” video series, we sat down with the iconic Dara Caponigro in the new Schumacher showroom at 200 Lex (Suite 1516) to talk about her career journey, the Schumacher brands and what she wants young women in the industry to know.
Dara Caponigro is Chief Creative Officer of FS&CO, the 132-year-old American company that comprises Schumacher, the luxury fabric and wallcovering house; Patterson Flynn, the prestigious rug firm; Backdrop, a house paint company with a fresh perspective, and Frederic Media, a glossy publication devoted to the best in design. Caponigro is also Creative Director of Schumacher where she directs and oversees product development, digital and print marketing, PR and events, licensing, finished goods and visual merchandising. She is also Editor in Chief of Frederic.
Caponigro is the author of The Authentics, which delves into the lives and homes of original trailblazers in the creative world as well as Domino, the Book of Decorating, a NY Times bestseller. She also authored S Is for Style: The Schumacher Book of Decoration celebrates the limitless possibilities of decorating and helps readers identify their personal style. Her latest book, Decorate Like a Decorator: All You Need to Know to Design like a Pro, educates readers on decorating tricks that only experienced designers are privy to, culled from FREDERIC magazine’s educational columns, this book shares with readers more than one hundred decorator pro moves.
Prior to joining Schumacher, Caponigro held many illustrious positions as a magazine editor, specializing in interior design and architecture. Most recently, Caponigro was the Editor-in-Chief of Veranda, establishing it as a global luxury brand. During her tenure, which coincided with both a recession and a decline in overall magazine readership, both Veranda’s newsstand sales and advertising revenue increased by double digit percentages.
Caponigro was also a founding editor of domino where she was Style Director from 2004 to 2009. She also held the positions of Design and Decoration Director at Elle Decor and Decorating Director at House Beautiful. She began her career at The Cooper-Hewitt Museum.
Caponigro is known for her ability to develop and invigorate brands, whether it’s breathing new life into existing companies or building them from scratch. With her discerning eye and uncanny ability to know her audience, she is able to dissect a property’s assets, give it a distinct personality, and evolve it to its full potential.
Caponigro holds a BA from Barnard College where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She lives in the Bronx with her husband, David Steinberger, and their two children, Sofia and Stefan. Their homes have been published in House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Veranda, domino, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Frederic.
