19 Facts About Eva Zeisel

Eva Zeisel's forms are often abstractions of the natural world and human relationships.

Eva Zeisel was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1906 to a wealthy, highly educated assimilated Jewish family.

Eva Zeisel was the first woman to qualify as a journeyman in the Hungarian Guild of Chimney Sweeps, Oven Makers, Roof Tilers, Well Diggers, and Potters.

In 1928, Eva Zeisel became the designer for the Schramberger Majolikafabrik in the Black Forest region of Germany where she worked for about two years creating many playfully geometric designs for dinnerware, tea sets, vases, inkwells and other ceramic items.

In 1930, Eva Zeisel moved to Berlin, designing for the Carstens factories.

Eva Zeisel had been falsely accused of participating in an assassination plot against Joseph Stalin.

Eva Zeisel was held in prison for 16 months, 12 of which were spent in solitary confinement.

When Eva Zeisel arrived in the US, she had to reestablish her reputation as a designer.

In 1942, Eva Zeisel was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art and Castleton China to design a set of modern, porcelain, undecorated china that would be worthy of exhibition at MoMA, to be produced for sale by Castleton.

The resulting exhibition, "New Shapes in Modern China Designed by Eva Zeisel," ran from April 17 to June 9,1946, and was the first one-woman exhibition at MoMA.

Eva Zeisel's dishes, known as "Museum" and "Castleton White," were manufactured and sold over the next several decades, initially in all-white as designed by Eva Zeisel, and later with a wide variety of decorations.

In 1955, Eva Zeisel created a second line for Hall called "Century" with production beginning in 1956.

Eva Zeisel stopped designing during the 1960s and 1970s, to work on American history writing projects.

Eva Zeisel found parallels between their trials and the Soviet show trials of which she had been a victim.

Eva Zeisel raised two children with Hans: a daughter, Jean Richards, who was born in 1940 and a son, John Eva Zeisel, who was born in 1944.

Eva Zeisel's works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum; Brooklyn Museum; New-York Historical Society, Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the British Museum; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Brohan Museum, Germany; as well as Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Milwaukee museums and others in the US and abroad.

In 2005, Eva Zeisel won the Lifetime Achievement award from the Cooper-Hewett National Design Museum.

Eva Zeisel received the two highest civilian awards from the Hungarian government, as well as the Pratt Legends award and awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America and Alfred University.

Eva Zeisel was an honorary member of the Royal Society of Industrial Designers, and received honorary degrees from Parsons, Rhode Island School of Design, the Royal College of Art, and the Hungarian University of the Arts.