From a stroke of fate to a project close to her heart: Daniela Reiter tells the company story
Bringing joy to people with memorial gemstones and helping them feel closer to a beloved deceased person or a cherished pet—that has been Mevisto's mission for over ten years. But how did the company come to be? What is behind the name “Mevisto”? And why is it a heartfelt project? Mevisto owner Daniela Reiter shares the company’s story.
Connected to Another Business Story
The story of Mevisto actually begins with another company’s history—that of Innotech GmbH, as Daniela Reiter reveals: “My father, Gerald Reiter, worked for a company where the windows were located at great heights. Cleaning them was always a source of fear for the cleaning staff. My father wanted to protect people who work in such dangerous heights, so in 2001, he started his own business. This was the birth of fall protection for windows—and at the same time, the birth of Innotech GmbH.”
Over time, the product portfolio grew. However, uncertain times had to be endured before the first profit was recorded. Alongside the development of this company, there was another heartfelt project within the family that was waiting to be realized…
A stroke of fate and a lack of understanding
This heartfelt project, which we now know as “Mevisto,” is tied to a personal tragedy. Daniela Reiter shares: “When my father was young, his parents took their own lives—one through murder and the other through suicide. The local community reacted with outrage. In the very traditional region of that time, there was no support for such a ‘mortal sin.’ It went so far that the priest refused to bury my father’s parents in ‘his’ cemetery, insisting that such a sin had no place there.”
Both the loss of his parents and the reaction of the community had a profound impact on Gerald Reiter. As a result, he left the region and built a completely new life elsewhere. There are no keepsakes from his past, and even the image of the cemetery from that time is fading from his memory.
An Alternative to Traditional Burial
“After these experiences, burying someone in a traditional cemetery was unthinkable for us as a family. We no longer wanted that, as the mistakes of the past remain unforgivable to us,” says Daniela Reiter.
So, they began exploring alternatives to conventional burials. This led them to a truly brilliant idea—the first concepts of Mevisto were born. The following aspects were and continue to be essential:
- It should be a keepsake that one can take along, as relocation often leaves little behind. Gerald Reiter had experienced this firsthand.
- The memento should differ from a photograph, as a photo always transports the mind back to a specific moment—the moment the picture was taken—rather than allowing memories to feel free and fluid.
- The keepsake should be something tangible, as the ability to touch and hold something is incredibly important in coping with a profound loss.
From the initial idea to concrete experiments
“Soon, we knew: We wanted to create memorial diamonds,” says Daniela Reiter. Unfortunately, the development process quickly stalled because they found too little usable material in cremation ashes. They then conducted a more detailed analysis of the elements that make up the human body and those that remain in ashes or hair. Eventually, they discovered corundum—sapphires and rubies.
“With this process, we are able to incorporate and measure specific elements from ashes or hair within the crystal,” explains Daniela Reiter. Various human elements are embedded into the gemstone structure—like a fingerprint, but even more unique and, above all, radiant. This was exactly what the Reiter family had been searching for. Today, their dream project, the heartfelt endeavor known as “Mevisto,” has been thriving for ten years and continues to grow.
Why Mevisto?
And why the company name “Mevisto”? “‘Mevisto’ carries many messages. Some might associate it with the shape-shifter Mephistopheles. Well, in a way, we also transform one form into another—so the connection fits.
But even more importantly, ‘visto’ means ‘to make visible,’ ‘to bring into the light.’ So, we see ourselves as positive shape-shifters. The ‘me’ stands for ‘metamorphosis’—the transformation into light.”
