Eva Zeisel | Ceramic Designer
Young Eva Zeisel was driven by two desires: to make beautiful things, and to see the world. Her long and legendary career in ceramics helped her do both. Born in Budapest in 1906, she apprenticed to a guild of potters as a teenager, then worked in Germany and later Russia (where she was imprisoned by Stalin for 16 months) and Vienna. Landing in New York in 1938 with her husband Hans, Zeisel began her second design career.
A TED talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.
https://www.ted.com/talks/eva_zeisel_on_the_playful_search_for_beauty
The ceramics designer Eva Zeisel looks back on a 75-year career. What keeps her work as fresh today (her latest line debuted in 2008) as in 1926? Her sense of play and beauty, and her drive for adventure. Listen for stories from a rich, colorful life.
Eva Zeisel: Her Life and her Designs – Michele Fricke
While design is widespread, it has never been popular: it speaks only to an elite. Correspondingly, design is not concerned with the popular idea of beauty. In fact, it looks down on popular taste.
My own definition of beauty includes popular taste… Beauty is not an elitist’s enjoyment. The sunset’s colors are for all to enjoy.”Quote by Eva Zeisel
https://www.melaniesherman.com/eva-zeisel-her-life-and-her-designs/
Eva Zeisel was born in 1906 in Hungary and died in 2011 in the United States. She was an influential figure in 20th century design, especially in the field of ceramics. She worked for more than 75 years and was one of the most important industrial designers in the United States. She not only designed and produced tableware in ceramics, but is also known for her furniture, light fixtures, chess sets, glassware, rugs and wallpaper designs. Her life and work were shaped by her desire to connect the past with the present, never to dismiss old styles and art forms. She called herself a “Modernist with a small ‘m’”[1], because of her separation from the Modern Movement (or “Machine Age”) in interwar Europe, which rejected any kind of decoration and did not look into historic sources for inspiration. She was more inclined to the more modern Second-Generation Arts and Crafts Movement, stressed the mass production of affordable but well designed, good quality wares and innovative production methods. All of her prototypes were finished by hand
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Museum
Hetjens Keramik Museum Düsseldorf
Wechselwirkungen – Meister und Gesellen des Bauhauses zwischen Werkstatt und Industrie
17. Februar bis 30. Juni 2019
Unweit von Weimar richtete der Bildhauer Gerhard Marcks in Dornburg a. d. Saale mit Hilfe des Thüringer Töpfermeisters Max Krehan 1920 die Keramikwerkstatt des Staatlichen Bauhauses ein. Hier entstanden ganz im Sinne von Walter Gropius Entwürfe für die Industrie in einem seriellen Gieß- und Modulverfahren. Das Keramikdesign des 20. Jahrhunderts wurde maßgeblich durch die am Bauhaus entwickelten ästhetischen wie funktionalen Gefäße geprägt.
Zahlreiche Keramikkünstler, wie beispielsweise Eva Stricker-Zeisel, ließen sich von Theodor Bogler, Otto Lindig oder Werner Burri inspirieren. Die gewagten Farbkombinationen der Objekte aus den 1920er Jahren wirken bis heute überaus modern und spiegeln die Aufbruchsstimmung einer ganzen Generation nach dem ersten Weltkrieg wider, als alles verloren und gerade deswegen nichts unmöglich schien.
Literature
Eva Zeisel: Compact Design Portfolio
Lucie Young
Gebundene Ausgabe: 96 Seiten Verlag: Chronicle Books
Eva Zeisel. Keramik – Design
Herausgeber: Florian Hufnagl
Texte: Volker Hornbostel, Michael Popp,Josef Straßer, Volker Zelinsky
Deutsch / Englisch
München: Die Neue Sammlung, 2013
79 Seiten mit farbigen Abbildungen
ISBN 978-3-9813755-4-1
