You know how when you were like seven, your dad told you that the bar stools in the rec room were not vinyl, but a special kind of leather that only came from these mysterious creatures called Naugas? And how you internalized that, and totally embarrassed yourself in front of that one girl you really liked freshman year when you were all, "Uh-uh, Naugahyde does too come from Naugas!" at that party?
Well, you can tell Rago Arts to not even bother inviting me to their alleged Valentine's Day auction of an "exceptionally large [88-in. across!] and rare promotional 'Naugha,' [sic] along with five smaller dolls," because I now know that Naugas went extinct within 50 years of the first white settlers' landing on New Zealand. So these things have to be totally fake!
Feb. 14, 20th c modern lot 432: Naughahyde, est $1200-1800 [ragoarts.com]
Another fake site, this one claiming George Lois designed Nauga for Uniroyal [georgelois.com]
It's a giant conspiracy to drive me crazy! Adopt a Nauga for $15-40? [naugahyde.com]
So it would be mean to consider teaching my children that polyester comes from polyests? I always imagined it as a small, wooly creature.