Eva Zeisel
Designer We Love: Eva Zeisel
Websites: Eva Zeisel Design, Eva Zeisel Forum
Quotable Quote: "We feel differently, more intimately, about dishes than we do about shoes or chairs or forks. If we unexpectedly come upon a chair like we used when we were children we say, 'We had a chair like that at home.' But if we come upon dishes like we used on the dinner table with our parents, we will surely exclaim: 'Look! Our dishes!'"
Background
Born in Hungary, 1906
Her well-off upbringing was filled with encouragement for her art
Formal painting training at Royal Academy of Fine Arts
Left the Academy to pursue her love of pottery
Was the first-ever female journeyman potter at age 18
In 1928, designed tablewares for Schramberger Majolika Fabrik, supervising 350+ workers
Artistic Director of the China and Glass Industry in the Soviet Union
Falsely accused of being part of a plot to assassinate Joseph Stalin, jailed 16 months in solitary, faced the death penalty -- others were executed, but she was freed for unknown reasons (likely her family lobbied greatly for her release)
1938 emigration to U.S. to flee the Nazis
Became top ceramic design instructor at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute -- first U.S. course on mass markets for ceramic design
Museum of Modern Art offered her a show of her Castleton porcelain dinnerware in 1947, MOMA's first one-woman show
Created dinnerware for Hallcraft, Sears, Red Wing Pottery
After World War II, she pioneered designs for busy homemakers with elegant casserole dishes and her Town and Country series of dinnerware which could be easily mixed and matched
Still designed up until her death on December 30, 2011 at age 105
Her older series have been reissued by Crate & Barrel, KleinReid, The Orange Chicken
Zeisel's works are on display in major museums worldwide
What We Love
Ms. Zeisel is our role model: we wish we could still be vital, alive, and creative when we're 101
Merging the worlds of the fine arts with mass merchandise and industrial design
Her pioneering work in the design arts, influencing other creative people by combining teaching with her design work
Introducing modernism into middleclass American homes
Her work looks like modern sculpture, but their warmth invites touch and use
Bringing emotion, passion, and contemplation through beautiful objects designed for our everyday food rituals
"I have always thought of my own work as a link between the past and the future, not as a break or departure from past styles."
Eva Zeisel Sampler
Photo Credits: Boston.com, Crate & Barrel, Cathy of California, Better Living Through Design, The Metropolitan Museum, Jerry and Martha, Erie Art Museum, The Overlook Press