Esther Cohen, founder of Posters International (PI), has been named the 2018 NEWH Icon of Industry recipient. The honor from NEWH recognizes leaders in hospitality manufacturing who have been active in the industry and community services for a minimum of 30 years.
“Truly, when I received the call announcing my Icon award, I felt as though I had just won the lottery,” Cohen says. “I feel honored and humbled and totally in awe because I am being rewarded for just being myself and doing something that I love to do.”
Cohen launched PI in Toronto in 1976 to provide wholesale art posters for worldwide distribution. The success of the company eventually yielded limited edition releases and original artwork as well. The business now operates as PI Fine Art & PI Creative Art, with Cohen’s sons Richie and Andrew at the helm. Cohen herself now oversees the Esther Cohen Gallery, PI’s investment gallery that comprises artwork collected by Cohen over the last 42 years.
