Designers

Mary A. Rentschler

Mary Rentschler brings a global wanderer’s sense of curiosity, discovery and exploration to her work in Interior Design on Martha’s Vineyard, and beyond. She believes that travel inspires us and opens our eyes to both the fantastic and the ordinary, the many versions of beauty in the world, the things that make us happy at home, wherever we live. So much of her design style is informed by her wanderings, past and present¸ whether driving along the Cote d’Azur, studying the Italian Renaissance in Florence, or bracing against a January wind on the beach at West Chop.

Mary is a lifelong Vineyarder, having “washed ashore” with her family at the same time as Hurricane Carol. Originally from the Chicago area, she has never been a fish out of water for long, having always lived by the water – first Lake Michigan, later the Pacific and now the Atlantic. With a veteran beachcomber’s eye for the unexpected and a willingness to happen upon inspiration in the least likely places, she brings a fresh, yet timeless, uncontrived approach to her work. An avid walker, she brings the outdoors inside, evident in her choices of color, texture, form and materials. Her close connection with, and great respect for, the natural world makes sustainability a vital component in all of her projects.

Coming from a long line of artists and artful “house mavens”, her family members all have strong visual orientations and highly individualized style, leading the connection between nature and nurture to be drawn. After a 23-year career in Advertising and Graphic Design (she co-founded her own firm), she switched gears and started Rentschler & Company Interiors that she has operated for the last decade. She has numerous clients on the island, as well as in Boston, New York, Washington DC, and Atlanta.

Hooked on beauty and craftsmanship since she bought her first and favorite possession at 19, a Berber rug, in Marrakesh, her style is grounded in eclectic taste. An avid lifelong photographer, Mary also has a strong background in studio and commercial art, art history and design.

She lives and works in Vineyard Haven, surrounded by all the things that make her feel happy to be home, always with an eye to her next journey.

In Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness… Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”