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 ZeiselWhen 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 ZeiselI 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 ZeiselTo 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 โnot like thisโ and โnot like that.โ And the โnot likeโโthatโs why postmodernism, with the prefix of โpost,โ couldnโt work. No negative impulse can work, can produce any happy creation. Only a positive one.
Eva Zeisel