A Beautiful Mind

 

Photograph by Richard Schulman.

Eva Zeisel achieved what we all aspire to have, a long life well lived. On one of the last days of 2011, December 30th, she passed away after sharing 105 inspirational years with the world.

We have a special place in our hearts for Eva Zeisel here at Fab.com. Mainly because we adore her ceramics, metalwork and furniture, but also because she was one of the first designers to agree to work with us before we launched last June. It did a lot to raise our self-esteem and also to make other designers believe in us.

Zeisel is considered one of the most influential designers of the 20th Century. Her simple and sinuous 1950s tableware collections revolutionized the way people ate, cooked and regarded common household objects. She brought high design (some might even say art) into the mainstream American home.

 She was born and trained in Hungary, and then lived in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. Like many other intellectual and creative luminaries of the time, she was falsely accused of conspiracy (specifically a plot to murder Stalin) and spent time in solitary confinement in the Gulag. After her release she briefly fled to Austria where the invasion of the Nazi regime forced her to escape to the United States. 

But in spite of the darkness and violence she endured, Zeisel’s work was full of joy, love and light. Parenthood and nurturing was a recurring theme in her products, which often included smaller objects such as bowls, spoons or shakers nesting inside a larger structure.

This portrait of Eva Zeisel was taken by renowned photographer Richard Schulman when she had recently turned 100 years old. “ When I first heard her speak I was surprised to hear how young she seemed,” he says. “I wanted to capture the spirit of youth in her eyes.”

And even though her eyes are closed now, that spirit will never die. 

Notes

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