the process of creating; the playful search (13 November 2016)

                                                 

Eva Zeisel and her daughter Jean and Zeisel's “Schmoo” mother and child salt and pepper shakers

When you begin your work, nothing exists. When it is finished it looks as if it just happened, spontaneously, effortlessly, convincingly. It looks as though it had been there all along.

- Eva Zeisel

Eva Zeisel at work on a model for Kispester-Granit, c 1980s


When I design something, I think of it as a gift to somebody else.

- Eva Zeisel

 Zeisel's prototype for a coke bottle

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

 Eva Zeisel, Self -Portrait, c 1920s

Eva Zeisel in her studio, c 1930

Everything I do is a direct creation of my hands, whether it is made in wood, plaster or clay.

- Eva Zeisel

Eva Zeisel German Art Deco Studio Pottery Vase

The playful search for beauty.

- Eva Zeisel