Stephanie Kantis (born February 3, 1968, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

) is an American jewelry designer based in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach, Florida, ...

Early life and education

Kantis was born to Andrew and Cassandra Kantis. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. Kantis attended the American University in London and graduated from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

. After graduating with a degree in interior design, she moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Career

Shortly after moving to

, Kantis was the first to design and manufacture custom, luxury baby cribs. She formed what became the premier luxury children's apparel, accessories and furniture brand under the name Stephanie Anne. Kantis established her first store – Stephanie Anne Room to Grow – on Lovers Lane (dubbed the Miracle Mile) in Dallas, Texas, in 1995. In 1999, Kantis started her second retail location near the Galleria on Post Oak Road in Houston, Texas. Kantis was the first to manufacture and retail a full scale luxury retail line for children in multiple categories. In 2005, based on demand from her customers, Kantis converted her store to a luxury home decor business. Kantis began designing and manufacturing everything from bed linens, furniture, tabletop, and lighting for distribution in her store. Kantis also started to get back to her roots of interior design and established a thriving residential interior design business with major projects in Dallas, Aspen, Miami, Palm Beach, Cabo San Lucas, and many other locations. In 2006, based on the plans to upgrade Highland Park Village, Kantis moved her Dallas store to the flagship corner in Highland Park Village. In 2009, Kantis introduced her loungewear and cashmere collections in her Highland Park Village store. During a visit back to Dallas at the end of the summer of 2010,

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

asked Kantis to show her collection to them. Kantis did so and Neiman Marcus wanted to test the line in Florida, where the designer's name was not as well known. Kantis held trunk shows at the Neiman Marcus Palm Beach and Neiman Marcus Boca Raton Stores in December 2010. Neiman Marcus quickly placed an order for 3 of their stores (Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Coral Gables) in spring 2011 under the Stephanie Anne Brand. Neiman Marcus expanded to 8 stores in the fall of 2011. By the fall of 2012, Stephanie Kantis was in 20 Neiman Marcus stores.

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

soon discovered the line and placed a launch order for 12 of their stores in Spring 2013. Kantis, at this point, decided to change the brand that all her jewelry was sold under to Stephanie Kantis. This change was announced and shown in

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

with the spring 2013 jewelry launch.

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

discovered Stephanie Kantis in 2016 and launched the brand in 16 stores and on Bloomingdales.com in fall 2016. Kantis has been featured in Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Allure,

O Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. In 2021, Winfrey and Hearst rebranded it as ''Oprah Daily''. Overview It was first pub ...

and

InStyle ''InStyle'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith, and started originally as a brand extension of ''People (magazine), People'' before carving out its own ide ...

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kantis, Stephanie 1968 births Living people American jewelry designers Florida International University alumni People from Palm Beach, Florida Artists from Florida Artists from St. Louis American women jewellers