The resulting profits from that sale allowed Kieselstein-Cord the facility to purchase his first large scale amount of sterling silver.
Russell agreed to buy the collection and represent Kieselstein-Cord at Jensen's U.S. flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York City.
Among the many fans Kieselstein-Cord started to develop was the famous Spanish bullfighter El Cordobés, who bought the designer's large horse-head buckle, Diane Keaton, Cat Stevens, Liz Smith, and others.
His primary goal was large scale distribution of exquisite handmade luxury products through America's leading specialty retailers at that time (i.e. Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, and Bonwit Teller among others).
During this period of growth, Kieselstein-Cord began to expand his employee base, bringing in young, talented, international craftspeople, and imbuing them with his mission and dedication to his artistic design vision.
[16] Within six months of its introduction, Kieselstein-Cord's now famous, seminal Winchester buckle appeared on fourteen consecutive pages of Vogue, photographed by Helmut Newton.
This catapulted the already rising Kieselstein-Cord to stardom, which allowed his work to reach a larger, sophisticated, and fashionable audience eager to embrace new symbols of status and success.
The increasing sales of the buckles and popularity of the designs facilitated an economic boom for the company in a generally recessionary period.
Despite the fact that ever-increasing commodity prices were shrinking the general consumer's appetite for precious metals-products, the artist-designer continued to expand in the face of high demand for his work.
As a thank-you, Kieselstein-Cord designed and produced a unique set of sterling silver baby duck candlesticks to run the length of Ellis' dining room table.