Hello and Happy New Year Everyone!  I am sorry for my absence for the past week or so.  I’m having a few technical difficulties today and will hopefully be able to insert some pretty images into this post soon!  Anyway, I was so excited about the Eva Zeisel china I received as a gift that I had to go right out and buy her book On Design: The Magic Language of Things . Many times I find that a lot of designers do not make the best writers – they tend to get caught up in archispeak and roaming philosophies. This is not the case with Zeisel.

Zeisel has had the benefit of recognizing beauty in things and observing design trends for more years than most. The fact that she has been around for a century has resulted in a wisdom that appreciates the past and present, is wary of the seductiveness of innovation and trends, and recognizes the charm in everyday objects and landscapes. She lived through the influence of the industrial revolution, the resulting reaction of the arts and crafts movement, through the era of streamlining that celebrated function and dictated form, and the increased emphasis on appreciating structure. She understands and clearly explains how cultural factors such as fascination with exploring outer space or modern art, and appreciation of structures from trees to fenceposts to the Eiffel Tower influence the design of everyday objects.

Zeisel describes her design philosophy beautifully and without pretension. For example, she writes "I have noticed in my long working life that I have never photographed an object alone, but always with others that are sympathetic to it. I have rarely designed objects that were meant to stand alone. My designs have family relationships. They are either mother and child, siblings, or cousins. They might not have identical lines, but there is always a family relationship." I am grateful for this glance at the world through a master like Zeisel’s eyes – it’s a great addition to any library, and it’s only about 20 bucks over at Amazon right now.