Helene Rother

She was posthumously inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2020.

In 2020, her contributions were recognized by the Automotive Hall of Fame for "her influence on the styling and design of vehicle interiors."

Rother decided she wanted to begin producing art again so she went for a visit to Europe where she saw the struggle to restore or rebuild war-damaged churches and cathedrals. She also designed stained glass for churches in the US and had installations in the mid-1960s, mainly in Michigan. Examples include the Beverly Hills United Methodist Church in Beverly Hills, and the St. Lazarus Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in northeast Detroit with all thick "chunk" faceted glass, that was fabricated in France. In 1962, the St. James United Church of Christ in Dearborn, was dedicated featuring windows and the reredos designed by Rother. She also designed stained glass windows for a modern cathedral, Our Lady Queen of Peace, in Harper Woods, Michigan. She used 1-inch (25 mm) thick pieces of glass, which consisted of twelve elongated triangular frames that merged at the top of the circle. The glass was selected and fabricated into small pieces by a family group of craftsmen in Buche, a suburb of Paris, before being shipped to the US for final assembly during the construction.

In 1953, Tide, a magazine covering the sales and advertising industry and trends, wrote: "a most attractive woman, whom I have thus encountered along the periphery of advertising is Madam Helene Rother — pretty and vivacious enough to serve as a prototype of Parisian women. She is an industrial designer with an impressive record."

Rother designed the Rambler's interiors to appeal to the feminine eye knew because she knew what women looked for in a car and her designs featured elegant, stylish, and expensive fabrics that coordinated in colors and trim. The new 1951 Rambler models were also "given the custom touch" with fabrics and colors selected by Rother that "equaled the best of interiors in American luxury cars of the period."

She toured the 1951 Paris Auto Salon, and was the first woman to address the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit. In 1953, Nash was awarded the Jackson Medal, "...since 1898, one of America's most sought-after awards," according to an advertisement, for the excellence of design. Many Nash sales brochures and Rambler advertisements of the time featured the copy stating: "Styling by Pinin Farina and interiors by Madame Helene Rother of Paris" as proof of the European influence on company's automobile styling. She conferred with Pinin Farina, who styled the exterior of the 1953 Nash Airflytes, to coordinate with the interiors and new custom fabrics. In 1954, the Nash Ambassadors had a big feature: the completely new interior by Rother. That year, Nash merged with Hudson to create American Motors Corporation (AMC), but her influence on interior fashion in automobiles continued.

In 1949, The SAE Journal reported on Rother's work and her activities advocating for women in the industry. They described her "efforts have encompassed items ranging from jewelry and accessories to several of today's automobiles, and quoted her that "even the Army is ahead of industry in employing the talents of women."

She was soon contracted by Nash Motors and styled the elegant interiors of most of the cars from 1948 to 1956. Even the economical Nash Rambler models were prominently promoted as "irresistible glamour" on wheels. The innovative 100 inches (2,540 millimetres) wheelbase Rambler was conceived initially as a well-appointed convertible with its interior designed with the aid of Rother as a consultant. Nash used a strategy to give the new Rambler a positive public image by avoiding it being seen by the public as a "cheap little car." It was "well-equipped and stylish" with no "stripped-down" versions. The focus on design and quality features helped establish a new segment in the automobile market, as the Rambler is widely acknowledged to be the first successful modern American compact car.

In 1947, Rother established her own design studio in the Fisher Building, where she specialized in designs for automotive interiors, furniture, and stained glass windows. Her business was named Helene Rother Associates. In 1948 she published a technical paper with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) asking "Are we doing a good job in our car interiors" She participated in SAE conferences describing that much can be and should be done in improving automobile interior design and the materials used at that time, summarizing what determines quality in textiles "You get exactly what you pay for." Her presentation at the annual conference also marked the first time that a woman addressed the SAE.

Rother's first employment in New York was as an illustrator for Marvel Comics. In 1943, she moved to Detroit, Michigan, to work for General Motors. She joined the interior styling staff and was responsible for upholstery colors and fabrics, lighting, door hardware, and seat construction.

Rother fled from Nazi-occupied France together with her seven-year-old daughter Ina, to a refugee camp in northern Africa where they stayed for four months before finding passage to the US on a ship and arrived in New York City on 11 August 1941.

In 1932, Rother gave birth to her daughter, Ina Ann Rother, whose father would later be active in the French Resistance and on the run for years.

A native of Leipzig, Germany, Rother studied art at the Kunstgewerbeschule (a school of applied arts) in Hamburg. It is also claimed that she studied at the Bauhaus, although the details of when this occurred remain unclear. No dates are available and some sources say she went to the Weimar Bauhaus (open 1919-1925) and some say Dessau, (open 1926-1932).

Helene Rother (1908–1999) was the first woman to work as an automotive designer when she joined the interior styling staff of General Motors in Detroit, US in 1943. She specialized in designs for automotive interiors, as well as furniture, jewelry, fashion accessories, and stained glass windows.

A sterling flatware pattern called "Skylark" was designed by Rother for Samuel Kirk & Son, silver craftsmen firm since 1815, that the company issued from 1954 into the late-1980s. The Skylark brand and logo expired in 1997.