Forget the five-star photo shoots, the beloved beauty brand, the marriage to a well-known actor, and the posse of famous pals. For Stila founder and mother of four Jeanine Lobell, life pretty much revolves around felt gnomes and fairies rather than spreadsheets and cell phones. Actually, if it were up to the 40-year-old makeup artist, she and her family would go about their lives entirely unplugged.
Lobell's latest labor of love, a charming Manhattan toy store dubbed Enchanted, plays right into her artsy-craftsy, slightly Luddite tendencies. Cross the threshold of the tiny Upper East Side shop and it's instantly obvious: Shelves teem with fuzzy handcrafted creatures. Bins overflow with colorful yarns and wooden vegetables. Elaborate costumes adorn the walls of the hallway that leads to the crafts room in back.
Opened in fall 2004 by Lobell and a group of fellow parents, Enchanted was inspired by the Waldorf educational system, a network of private schools that emphasizes creativity in tandem with academics. Lobell enrolled her first child (Bailey) in a Waldorf school in Los Angeles while her husband, Anthony Edwards, was deep into his eight-year stint on ER. Once Edwards left the show and the family moved to New York four years ago, they enrolled Bailey and his three sisters in the Rudolf Steiner School, another Waldorf-affiliated institution. Part of Enchanted's profits go to provide tuition assistance for the school's underprivileged students.
"I jokingly tell people that I drank the Kool-Aid," says Lobell. "I like that Waldorf offers a threefold education—it's the heart, the mind, and the hands. I want my children to be leaders, have imaginations, and be thinkers. And I want them to be comfortable in their own skin. That will get them anywhere."
To stock Enchanted, Lobell tapped two key resources: the Waldorf community worldwide and women-owned co-ops in impoverished countries. Whether they're mobiles from Vietnam or castle-making kits from a disabled community in Germany, the toys she chooses fill a dual role of giving back and fueling creativity. Born and raised in Sweden by American expat parents, Lobell has long loved homespun handiwork. "I've been a crafts queen since I was little," she says. "When I was growing up, we didn't have a TV. Plus, it was freezing there. We would just stay home and knit."
As for balancing motherhood with her various undertakings, which include creating beauty products for Stila, doing makeup for high-profile events, and overseeing Enchanted, Lobell lives by a couple of simple rules. First, she believes in spelling out what you need. "Tony is an amazing husband and father, but he wasn't perfect when he started," she says. "You have to teach your husband to help." Second, she plays to her creative strengths. "The things I've chosen to do with my life are things I'm good at," says Lobell. "This way, I just crank it out and have time for my family, and everyone's happy."
