inspired by: eva zeisel

Industrial designer and artist Eva Zeisel was born in Hungary in 1906. Her body of work comprises everything from paintings to modernist dinnerware to avant-garde furniture (a venture she began in her 80s). Zeisel's work can be found in museums all over the world, Design Within Reach, and even in a reproduced collection at Crate and Barrel. I'm inspired by her self-described "playful search for beauty."

Photos (top to bottom): Zeisel in the 1930s (courtesy Eva Zeisel archives); Zeisel's living room (photo: Mark Heitoff); Zeisel in her home studio, surrounded by her work (Heitoff); Zeisel at her solo exhibit, 1951, Akron Art Institute (Eva Zeisel archives via DWR); Zeisel's bathroom today, adorned with her own 1920s oil paintings (Heitoff); Zeisel's signature "curvilinear" style.

{Read more about her fascinating life and work—including a period of false imprisonment and solitary confinement—here and here}

{Preview the documentary about Zeisel, Throwing Curves, here}