design:retail - September/October 2019 - 45

RT HAS ALWAYS
made Leigh Ann
Tischler happy-
not surprising,
since she has been
painting since she
was 2 years old.
While she explored
art, traditional oil
painting and sculpture throughout her childhood,
she thought psychology would prove to be a more
practical route for college studies. But in the end, her
artistic passions eventually led her back to creativity, and she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in
painting from University of Massachusetts-Amherst,
with minors in psychology and graphic design.
After graduation, Tischler launched a painted
clothing company that kept her busy in beach
towns, such as the Hamptons. Just before "painting one T-shirt too many," she moved to Boston and
found herself working in an off-price chain of stores
followed by a stint at an art gallery. While she was
gaining valuable experiences, the conservative nature
of the jobs had her feeling stifled and looking to move
back home to New Jersey. She landed a position doing
visuals with Macy's at Garden State Plaza, and from
holiday to men's to juniors, she grew in her role and
eventually was asked to do visuals for The Rotunda.
"This was a defining moment for me," Tischler
says. "I remember walking in The Rotunda when
I was about 12 years old and thinking 'wow, who
does this,' and here I was doing it."
While a valuable member of the team, she decided she really wanted to be in New York. But
Karen Smith, vice president of visuals for Macy's at
the time, wasn't ready to lose her and offered her a
nine-month freelance opportunity to open a store in
Pentagon City, Va., with William Herbst, then senior
vice president of visual and store design at Macy's.
"[That] was so fantastic, but I really had to prove
myself," Tischler recalls. "I think that opportunity
provided the foundation for the rest of my career.
Karen and William were so supportive and trusting."
For Tischler, being the renovation coordinator was
fun and exciting-developing themes, sketching and
pricing, and then living in a hotel for weeks checking
on details and deliveries, troubleshooting and pulling
the store together.

This gig led to a full-time position working with Herbst on new stores and renovations
for Macy's. After three years and a halt to store
development, she was ready for a change. Her industry connections introduced her to a role with
Bloomingdale's as visual manager of cosmetics
and fashion accessories. There, she continued to
expand and hone her skillset, but after another
three years, an opportunity with Sony arose that
was too good to pass up.
Sony was looking to redesign its New York
Madison Avenue location to be a couture electronic store. Her creative spirit was energized. She
relished the chance to be involved with a groundbreaking concept from the beginning. For the next
15 years, she reinvented the visual experience of
electronics. "It was exciting and fabulous; a time
of big props and movement," Tischler says. "We
were figuring everything out. We were working
with artists, dancers and visual people, and doing

The Artist
prototypes out of cardboard. It was me, [Vice President] Visual Marketing Christine Belich and a team
of freelancers changing windows and interior store
visuals on Madison Avenue every six weeks."
"Leigh Ann is a relentless creative and always
looks forward to any creative challenge with passion, vigor and a smile on her face," says Belich,
now a design consultant. "We were a spontaneously creative team, driven to find ways to solve
creative problems and find solutions to all the
hallucinations we [dreamt] up."
When Sony moved operations to San Diego,
Tischler stayed to run Sony Plaza before returning to Bloomingdale's in 2011, where she has been
infusing artistic expression into its visual experience ever since. In her current role as director of
windows and special interior visual campaigns,
she works with her team on the window rotations,
as well as bringing those themes into the store via
the Arcade entrances on Lexington Avenue and
cohesively tying them to main visual touchpoints.

Tischler is continuously creating win-win
situations for Bloomingdale's, her creative team
and her talented collaborators. She credits advice
from her mentor, Herbst, for allowing the talents
of her team to shine. "After months of preparing
for the Pentagon City store, when we were ready
to install, he said, 'You've got to let it go now.'
After creating the vision, we now had to let the team
interpret it in their own way," Tischler explains.
"Those words have helped me so much." She believes that moment taught her how to work with a
team and she feels blessed to have worked with so
many talented people throughout her career.
In addition to Herbst, she credits Belich for
teaching her how to never accept "no" for an
answer. "We always found a way to sculpt things
larger than life, and make what seemed impossible
to animate or install, happen," Tischler says.
She encourages creativity and finds inspiration
daily with her Bloomie's team, as well as the gifted
artists she feels lucky to collaborate with-and the
feeling is mutual. They find her a dedicated, inspiring and passionate leader.
"Leigh Ann is an incredible team leader and
an expert at working with others in order to
accomplish the most incredible execution of our
award-winning windows," says Jack Hruska,
senior vice president store design and visual of
Bloomingdale's. "Everyone at Bloomingdale's
enjoys working with Leigh Ann, and are always
rewarded with beautiful and thought-provoking
expressions of the Bloomingdale's brand."
Her career journey proves she embraces risktaking and she brings excitement and energy
to her work. She has had projects, both at Sony
and Bloomingdale's, honored as award-winning
windows, and she is committed to engaging
customers with the street theater of windows.
From video walls, holograms and electronics to
big props and interactive displays, she is starting
conversations and providing selfie-worthy backdrops that are enticing people from the street
into the store.
"I feel like I have one of the best jobs ever,"
Tischler says. "I thought I would be a starving artist, but I'm not starving. I am a fine arts major who
got lucky and found a niche. It's very consuming
work, but I love every minute of it."

design:retail - September/October 2019

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