| Jean adored her doting father, and he played no small part in helping
her develop her philosophy that life is an adventure just waiting to be experienced-and Lived. When she was six, he took her to hear Albert Einstein play
the violin. Observant even then, she noted the eminent physicist was wearing unmatched socks. (She still makes no comment on his musical acumen.)
Each one of Jean's passions led quite naturally into exploration and
fulfillment in multiple disciplines. In 1934, at the age of 12, the then chubby little girl started collecting oriental art, buying a porcelain box she 'just liked' at
a shop on 48th Street in Union City. She committed her weekly fifty-cent allowance to it until she was able to take it home.
It soon became
apparent Jean had an 'eye' for hidden value in the items she loved. In the years after she received her degree in Fine Arts, with further studies at New
York University and the China Institute, she created the Tao Yin Gallery. An earlier venture was Jewelry by Tao Yin, which she designed and
manufactured in a loft in Union City with the help of 21 employees.
Jean often muses she must have been of oriental heritage in another
life, hence her affinity for the culture's art. In her vernacular, "Tao Yin" means, quite literally, "the philosophy of the feminine." She had the phrase
trademarked when she was only 18. |
5400 East State Road 45