Our Story
How Did We End Up Here
Our story begins back in 1550 in Eisenburg, Germany, where members of the Meyer family first took up tanning and leatherwork. Over the centuries, we branched out, working with an expanding range of animal skins. Around 1830, the New World beckoned, and Wilhelm Meyer moved the family business overseas, first to Philadelphia, then to New Jersey in 1856, operating in North Bergen for the next 130 years. During that time, Wilhelm’s grandson incorporated the family business using his own name, which we still use today: Richard E. Meyer & Sons. Finally, in 1981 we relocated to our current home in the Hudson River Valley, in beautiful southern New York.
Since 1972, Karl Meyer, the current patriarch, has led R.E. Meyer & Sons in the production of fine leathers for a wide range of products including hand-bound books, piano actions, shoes, and even lederhosen. In 1999, Karl’s oldest son Jesse, then 27, decided to develop a new branch of the business and began producing parchment under the name Pergamena.
Later, in 2006, Jesse hired a multi-talented young woman named Ellen Sigunik. Inspired by the creative potential of parchment, and its history in architecture and design, Ellen began to explore the use of parchment veneer for furniture and interior installations. Eventually, she turned her focus entirely to applications, forming her own company, Sigunik Studio.
Today, the three businesses, Pergamena, Richard E. Meyer & Sons, and Sigunik Studio, operate in close proximity and association, sharing facilities, ideas, and this website. And that makes us well positioned to serve our customers, whether they need raw materials or finished applications.