Aveda Founder

Breaking News: Aveda Founder and Natural Products Pioneer Horst Rechelbacher Dies At 72

This weekend, the beauty industry lost one of its most influential and pioneering leaders.  Aveda Corp. and Intelligent Nutrients founderHorst Rechelbacher died of pancreatic cancer in his home in Osceola, WI.  He was 72.

Horst changed the landscape of salon products and practices, bringing earth-friendly production and natural ingredients to the industry for the first time on a large and consistent scale. 

Born in Klagenfurt, Austria, Rechelbacher learned about the plant world from his mother, an herbalist. That knowledge became the centerpiece of his career and a passion that grew through the decades. As a young man in Austria, he left school at the age of 14 to become an apprentice barber.  He began entering hair competitions in Europe, ultimately winning numerous awards, including the International Grand Prix of France, Germany, Austria and Brussels as well as the prestigious European Golden Comb Award of the former Yugoslavia.  His championships led to offers to travel to the U.S. to teach and train American stylists, and while traveling through Minneapolis, he was struck by a drunk driver, experiencing serious injuries that left him in debt. So he opened a salon—Horst of Austria—to pay his bills, and never left Minneapolis. 

A trip to India in 1970 awakened his interest in Ayurveda and aromatherapy, and in1978, he launched Aveda Corp. with a staff of two. In subsequent years, the Aveda brand expanded to include Aveda Concept Salons and Aveda Institutes, and Rechelbacher opened five Horst & Friends Salon. Before long, the unique Aveda fragrances and formulations formed one of the top selling professional brands, and the Horst’s approach of synergy between products, salons, education and eco-responsibility captured the loyalty of countless salon owners, stylists and salon clients. 

Horst sold Aveda to the Estee Lauder Company in 1997 for an estimated $300 million.  Later he created Intelligent Nutrients, a certified organic, food-grade, non-toxic plant-based hair, skin, body, aroma and lifestyle company with an emphasis on using organically grown ingredients. Based on nutraceuticals, non-toxics and certified organic food ingredients and flavors, Intelligent Nutrients also uses post-consumer recycled packaging.

An official statement from Aveda reads, in part:

It is with profound sadness that we say farewell to our Founder, Horst Rechelbacher, who left his body following a period of illness. His vision inspires us every day, not only at work with Aveda, but in our lives. Horst led a life of extraordinary leadership, creating a vision of what he wanted to be, and then bringing that vision to reality. He brought holistic beauty to the industry, connecting hair, face, and body as one.  He was a life-long student who journeyed around the world gathering knowledge on the benefits of plants and Ayurveda, the ancient healing art of India.   
 
Beyond a business, Aveda became a lifestyle and a global movement empowering many to live more balanced lives to achieve a sense of harmony in body, mind and spirit. At Aveda, we are, and will be forever grateful to Horst for the Aveda passion we are honored to live every day.

Horst is survived by his wife Kiran Stordalen, daughter Nicole Thomas and son Peter Rechelbacher.