Eva Zeisel on Design: The Magic Language of Things Hardcover - 2004

by Eva Zeisel

No matter how far from home we go, refining our palates, leaving behind family cooking for sophisticated fare, we all have a special place in our hearts and stomachs for our families' deliciously basic, home recipes. Born of the culinary traditions of actress Pamela Hensley Vincent's Jewish family and her husband Duke Vincent's Italian background, The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook recaptures, with charm, and tasty and do-able recipes, the gastronomic nostalgia of two families.

The sixty-four recipes run the gamut from typically Jewish (Yetta's Chicken Soup) to quintessentially Italian (Duke's Special Spaghetti), and represent the best of traditional modern American food, radiating a fifties sensibility that goes down as deliciously well today as it did then.

The common ground of all family food traditions is 'Food is Love,' and this principle is irresistibly at play as Pamela Vincent recounts heartfelt anecdotes, describing memories of meals with loved ones. From a predawn breakfast of buttered matzoh and coffee with her grandfather to pasta night with Duke, The Jewish-Sicilian Cookbook will inspire readers to revisit fond food memories of their own as well as create new ones. With a trailblazing career that spans more than seventy-five years and continues to this day, with recent creations that include a Martini glass featured in Bombay Sapphire ads and vases for Klein-Reid, Eva Zeisel stands at the forefront of modern designers. Her works are a reflection of a profoundly independent vision and are featured in the permanent collections of museums throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

In this lavishly illustrated, full-color book, the designer for the first time communicates the ideas that have guided and inspired her. Each aspect of the design process is analyzed variety, spontaneity, line, contour, shading, and texture, among others to show how the best works are the result of a dialogue between creator and object, the result of which is an environment that is pleasurable, comfortable, and elegant. The language in which this dialogue is conducted, 'the language of things,' is one in which Zeisel's fluency is unparalleled, and her thoughts, read alongside the photos of her stunning creations and those that have inspired her, make this book indispensable to every enthusiast of art, ceramics, and design.