Suzanne Rheinstein, a longtime DLN Member, doyenne of the design world, and friend and mentor to many, died yesterday at the age of 78. The Louisiana-born, Los Angeles-based designer was beloved for her soft, inviting take on classic interiors—and for an enduring kindness that earned her the friendship of many of her peers and has left the design world reeling from the loss.
“Suzanne represented the very best kind of DLN member, working on amazing interiors and also creating product lines, owning a retail business, publishing books—and let’s not forget being a mentor and a philanthropist in our community,” says DLN founder Peter Sallick. “I think we all aspire to use our creativity and our entrepreneurial spirit with the breadth and success that she achieved over her long career.”
Named to the AD100 and Elle Decor’s A-List, her interiors graced the pages of Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Veranda, Town & Country, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, as well as three of her own monographs. In its 30 years in business, her design shop Hollyhock drew a dedicated following of top designers and created an enduring style legacy continued today with Suzanne’s fabric collections for Lee Jofa of the same name.
She received deserved acclaim in her nearly five decades in the design world: Over the course of her career she was the recipient of the New York School of Interior Design’s Albert Hadley Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art’s Arthur Ross Award, the LCDQ Living Legends Award, and the LACMA Design Leadership Award, to name a few. Suzanne was also a longtime patron of many design nonprofits, including the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, which was set to honor her at its annual President’s Dinner next month.
“Suzanne was an icon in our industry, beloved for her kindness as well as her beautiful work, traits that inspire designers now and will continue to for years to come,” says Jim Druckman, President of the Board of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. “I can think of no better place to honor Suzanne than at the Kips Bay Presidents Dinner among so many people who loved her.”
Suzanne’s latest book, A Welcoming Elegance, just released last week, was received to much acclaim by fans and friends. It seems a fitting final project for her, who will be most remembered—in both her designs as her life—for warmth, grace, and a natural, immeasurable, all-encompassing elegance.
“Suzanne was a great designer not just because she could create beautiful rooms—with her knowledge and exquisite taste, she could do that almost effortlessly—but because she cared about how those rooms would be used, and how they would make the lives of the people who used them richer and more joyful,” says DLN Fellow Michael Boodro, who authored the latest book. “She thought hard about how design could make daily life better. That is why so many of her clients turned to her again and again. She elevated people. She integrated beauty and nature into her clients’ lives every day. And that caring and concern applied equally to her family, friends, and colleagues. She was a generous friend, a wonderful hostess, a superb gardener. And she loved to share her pleasure in life, to pass on her knowledge. She brought so much joy to so many people—she certainly did to me.”
Suzanne was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Fred, and leaves behind her daughter, Kate, who carries on her mother’s aesthetic legacy with her own esteemed design shop, KRB, as well as adored grandchildren.