Neil Blumenthal & Rachel Leigh (Kunst)

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Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Warby Parker; Founder & Designer, Rachel Leigh Jewelry. New York
Happy 2012 boys and girls! It’s a new year with a new start. And, with that, we’re pumped as ever to bring you more clothes, more handbags, more destinations, and more locations for you to spend the next 365 days gawking over. So, let’s kick it off on the right foot. Cute couple alert. Swoon! Today, we bring you inside the pad of Rachel Leigh and Neil Blumenthal, a rad entrepreneurial couple with some credibility to boot. Rachel Leigh launched her namesake line of jewelry in 2004 and sells her goodies to over 500 stores worldwide. A former publicist for Yves Saint Laurent, Leigh has collaborated with brands like L’Oreal Paris, Swarovski, Madewell, American Eagle, and Susan G. Komen and has been featured inside the pages of Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Women’s Wear Daily and more. She’s credited with producing vintage-inspired pieces that are on-trend and timeless, but above all, her mantra is keepsake-meets-contemporary. Her hubby is Neil Blumenthal, co-founder of Warby Parker, a line of vintage-inspired frames and prescription lenses for $95.00, and for every product sold, a pair is given to someone in need. A graduate from Wharton, his one-for-one business model has caught on not only due to its mission of giving back, but his shades really are stellar. Together, they occupy a quaint NYC apartment, where they were recently forced to turn Rachel’s shoe and bag emporium into a bedroom to accompany the arrival of their little boy Griffin (he also has a pair of lenses named after him). Their apartment is full of deer bookends, vintage Visionaire publications, ornate giraffe statues (which were purchased after a trip to South Africa), and a slew of custom wallpapers that are at the top of our list for our 2012 purchases. But most importantly, we should take a page from this duo's book and spend a little bit more time giving back. And with Blumenthal’s ‘do good’ concept and Leigh’s collection of collectables, 2012 looks like it’s going to be a damn good year!

Digital Inspiration
•Vogue•Lonnymag•The New York Times•MR. PORTER•NET-A-PORTER•Warby Parker•@TheRachelLeigh •@NeilBlumenthal

Rachel Leigh Bravman, the daughter of Debra H. Bravman and Dr. Richard J. Bravman of Centerville, Mass., was married on Saturday evening to Neil Harris Blumenthal, the son of Diane P. Blumenthal and William B. Blumenthal of New York. Rabbi David Freelund officiated at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Chatham, Mass.

The bride and the bridegroom both graduated from Tufts, where they met.

Mrs. Blumenthal, 28, is the president and founder of a jewelry design and manufacturing company in New York that bears her name. Her father, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, is a partner in Bravman, Langston & Fantuzzo, a group practice with offices in Hyannis, Falmouth and Bourne, Mass. He is also an assistant clinical professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Boston University School of Dental Medicine. Her mother is a psychotherapist in private practice in Mashpee, Mass.

Mr. Blumenthal, 27, was until last week the director of VisionSpring, an organization in New York that sells inexpensive reading glasses in developing countries. Last month, he began an M.B.A. program at the University of Pennsylvania. His mother is a retired nurse; she last worked at the interventional radiology department at New York University Medical Center. His father is a managing director for international tax at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the New York accounting firm.

Neil Blumenthal loves helping people see. Determined to radically transform the eyewear industry and create a new model for how for-profit companies should behave, Neil and three friends launched Warby Parker.

As the former director of non-profit VisionSpring, Neil spent the better part of 5 years giving glasses to people living on less than $4 per day who otherwise would not be able to see. A native of New York City, Neil is a Leo, enjoys long walks in the park and is a big Hall and Oates fan.

Prior to joining VisionSpring, he worked with the International Crisis Group and attended the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution in The Hague, Netherlands. Neil received his BA from Tufts University and his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was both a Social Enterprise Fellow and a Leadership Fellow. Neil and his wife, jeweler designer Rachel Leigh, live in NYC.

Warby Parker’s mission is to provide high-quality eyewear at a previously unheard of price of $95 a pair. The company’s objective doesn’t stop there, however. For each pair of glasses sold, the company donates one pair of glasses to someone in need. Since Warby Parker’s inception, they have already donated approximately 20,000 pairs.

http://twitter.com/#!/therachelleigh
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nblumenthal
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/08/01/style/1194817106037/vows-rachel-and-neil.html

http://thecoveteur.com/Rachel_Neil