When I design something, I think of it as a gift to somebody else. Eva Zeisel More Quotes by Eva Zeisel More Quotes From Eva Zeisel The pleasure of making things beautiful or useful involves your feelings as well as your thinking. When your original sketch evolves into a tangible, three-dimensional object, your heart is anxiously following the process of your work. And the love involved in making it is conveyed to those for whom you made it. Eva Zeisel heartbeautifulthinking The playful search for beauty. Eva Zeisel I don't call myself an 'industrial designer,' because I'm other things. Industrial designers want to make novel things. Novelty is a concept of commerce, not an aesthetic concept. Eva Zeisel noveltydesignerwant To be different is a negative motive, and no creative thought or created thing grows out of a negative impulse. A negative impulse is always frustrating. And to be different means ‘not like this’ and ‘not like that.’ And the ‘not like’—that’s why postmodernism, with the prefix of ‘post,’ couldn’t work. No negative impulse can work, can produce any happy creation. Only a positive one. Eva Zeisel creativemeannegative If you want to be creative, don't try to do something new. Doing something new means NOT doing what's been done before, and that's a negative impulse. Negative impulses are frustrating. They're the opposite of creativity, and they never yield good ideas. Eva Zeisel yieldcreativitymean When I met my designs in the market of a remote village in the West Indies, or in the airport restaurant in Zurich, I felt like the mother of many well-behaved children. Eva Zeisel airportsmotherchildren Modernism, rebelling against the ornament of the 19th century, limited the vocabulary of the designer. Modernism emphasized straight lines, eliminating the expressive S curve. This made it harder to communicate emotions through design. Eva Zeisel curvesvocabularydesign I think with my hands. I design things to be touched-not for a museum. A piece is ready when it has the shape of something to cherish. Eva Zeisel museumshandsthinking My designs are meant to attract the hand as well as the eye. Eva Zeisel designeyehands The designer must understand that form does not follow function nor does form follow a production process. For every use and for every production process there are innumerable equally attractive solutions. Eva Zeisel designerusedoe I never wanted to do something grotesque. I never wanted to shock. I wanted my audience to be happy, to be kind. Eva Zeisel grotesquebe-kindshock I don't like to design single objects. I like my pieces to have a relationship to each other. They can be mother and child, like the Schmoo salt and pepper shakers, or brother and sister like the Birdie salt and peppers, or cousins, like most of my dinnerware sets. Eva Zeisel cousinbrothermother Everything I do is a direct creation of my hands, whether it is made in wood, plaster or clay. Eva Zeisel claywoodshands I don't know the difference between working and not working. Eva Zeisel differencesknows Novelty is a concept of commerce, not an aesthetic concept. Eva Zeisel commerceaestheticnovelty I made the things particularly because I wanted them to see the world. Eva Zeisel madewantedworld If you think of beautiful things, you’re not sad. Eva Zeisel beautiful-thingsbeautifulthinking My time in Weimar Berlin was the most elegant in my life. I would have parties for a hundred people - writers, scientists, artists. Eva Zeisel partyartistpeople If I hadn't been a designer, I'd have been a painter. I began as a painter and learned the craft of pottery in order to support myself. Eva Zeisel potterysupportorder I am a maker of useful things. Eva Zeisel useful-thingsmakers
