”Beautiful things make people happy.”
- Eva Zeisel
Photograph by Talisman Brolin
Eva Zeisel was born Eva Amalia Striker in Budapest in 1906. Her father, Alexander Striker, owned a textile factory and her mother, Laura Polanyi Striker, a feminist and historian, was the first women to earn a doctorate at the University of Budapest. It was at her mother’s suggestion that Eva switched from studying painting at the Hungarian Royal Academy of Fine Arts to pursuing the more practical career of ceramist. At 18 years old, Eva apprenticed herself to the last master potter in the Medieval Guild System, an unusual path for middle-class young lady. She graduated as a journeyman and became the first woman admitted to the local pottery guild.
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In 1932, Eva moved to Russia, explaining, “It was curiosity that moved me. I wanted to see what was behind the mountain.” Although she had only planned to visit, she was immediately hired by the Ukrainian Central Glass and Porcelain Trust, eventually designing for the Lomonosov and Dulevo Factories. And in 1935 Eva became the Artistic Director of the Russian China and Glass Trust.
In May of 1936, everything changed. “At 4am, there was a knock at the door, and so began a different life,” Eva recalled. Falsely accused of plotting to assassinate Stalin, Zeisel was sent to prison for 16 months, 12 of which were in solitary confinement. Eva never knew who was responsible for her release, but suddenly in September of 1937 she was freed and expelled from the Soviet Union. “I hadn’t seen any colors for a year and a half,” said the designer.
(See Eva Zeisel: A Soviet Prison Memoir in iBook and Kindle).
Eva joined her family in Vienna, reconnecting with her future husband Hans Zeisel. On the day Hitler marched into Austria, Eva took the last train out, “I couldn’t stand another trauma,” she recalled. Hans joined her in England where they married. A few months later they sailed for America with $64 between them. “I saw the Statue of Liberty and my tears came down. It was a very touching reception,” said Eva of her October 1938 arrival. The next day she went to the magazine China and Glass and shortly thereafter was commissioned to design 10 ceramic miniatures for $100. Eva was soon hired by New York’s Pratt Institute, where she became the first person to teach ceramics for industry, rather than handicraft.
Eva’s work continued to gather acclaim. In 1944, the Museum of Modern Art invited her to design the first all-white, American modern dinner service, to be manufactured by Castleton China in New Castle, PA. In 1946 Eva was honored with the first one woman show at MoMA, New Shapes in Modern China: Designed by Eva Zeisel, featuring the Museum Shape. This led to many design commissions; among them were Town and Country for Red Wing Pottery and Hallcraft for Hall China Company (see timeline for more details).
Eva continued designing until a few months before her death in December 2011. Her work is in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, including MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum and British Museum in London. In 2002 Pratt Institute honored Eva with the Living Legend Award, and in 2005 she received the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Her designs are widely collected and many are on the market today.