In the Swim

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

 

"Did you touch it? Touch it." Eva Zeisel traces a finger across her fish-shape glazed ceramic tiles, tactile reminders, she says, of "swimming in the Danube many, many years ago." At 102—in possession of countless honors and passionate devotees—this legendary ceramist could certainly rest on her laurels. Instead, she's in the midst of a second career, eagerly facilitated by the Rug Company.

Three of Zeisel's existing designs now enjoy second lives as hand-knotted rugs—starting with Fish, the school of tiles now transformed into Tibetan wool woven in Nepal. Her favorite, Dimple Spindle, takes her 1958 modular ceramic wall dividers, once made by Manifattura Mancioli, and mimics the forms in carved wool pile. (She chose the name Dimple Spindle, she explains, "because Belly Button is not very dignified.") Lacy X reworks and multiplies ceramic decorative objects in wool and silk. Why this fancy for repetition? "Because it's continuous," she says. "Just like life." 800-644-3963; therugcompany.info. circle 404

From top: photos courtesy of The Rug Company [2]; photo by Michael Brolin.