b"2021 RETAILER HALL OF FAMEMARIE HELENE REINHOLD Instead of the usual wholesale brands that were unknown to consumers, it featured a range of young, mostly American artist/designers who each had a story and a distinctive look. They marketed their jewelry like art and their brand names were meant to be carried in retail stores and sold that way.This approach aligned with Reinholds vision of jewelry as art. My mother, Yael says, no matter what she was into, always had an eye for art and for design. She always liked unusual things. I think going into the jewelry world was an art world for her, too.Marie Helene says her love of art and beauty was something instilled in her from a young age, as was being a merchant. Before emigrating to Haiti, her father's family ran auction house Wiener Auktionhaus J. Fischer in Vienna, which was a thriving hub for artists, musicians, and philosophers for generations.Her father Kurt and his brother-in-law, Karl From-brun, continued their artis- My favorite tic legacy in Haiti, running a small version of the auctionCouture memory house and, later, openingwill be made at the the shop in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico where Marieshow this August. Helene worked. While there are so I truly dont remember a moment in life wheremany wonderful beauty and art were notmemories, I find celebrated fully, she says. myself constantly Marie Helene chan-neled this lifelong appreci- looking forward, ation for beautiful objects,not back.as well as her familys example of how to rebuild, into her jewelry business.Marie Helene Left with only the nameReinholdReinhold Jewelers after her divorce, she started over with beaded necklaces she strung alongside her daughters.The retailer stocked the necklaces in the store, and they sold over and over again, a turnover dream, and those sales allowed her to lay the foundation for what Reinhold Jewelers would become: a leader in nurturing talent in jewelry design. The stores earliest roster of designers included not only Yager, Hess and Yurman, but also the innovative platinum designer Michael Bondanza, and John Hardy, a then-little-known Canadian artist who was making jewelry with a Balinese bent.Eventually, her designer showcases included more and more distinguished artists such as Robert Lee Morris, Penny Preville, Alex Sepkus, Monica Rich Kosann, and Stephen Webster. The full roster of designers carried by Reinhold Jewelers over the years is vast; many found their footing in the fine jewelry world thanks to Reinhold and other retailers who shared her vision. Yurman recalls how Reinhold was one of his first retail accounts. The store began carrying his jewelry in the late 70s when his company was exhibiting at the RJA show under the name Putnam Art Works.He says she transformed Reinhold Jewelers.It was no longer just about dealing with diamonds, but about NATIONAL JEWELER 27reinhold-jewelers-4,75x13in-iconica-bangles.indd 1 06/05/21 15:19"