So I understand that this meeting was planned, and the slogan was From Was to Still. And I am illustrating Still. Which, of course, I am not agreeing with because, although I am 94, I am not still working. And anybody who asks me, "Are you still doing this or that?" I don't answer because I'm not doing things still, I'm doing it like I always did. I still have -- or did I use the word still? I didn't mean that.
Ja sam shvatila da je ovaj sastanak bio planiran, te mu je slogan Nekad i Još Uvijek. Ja predstavljam Još Uvijek. S čime se ja naravno ne slažem jer, iako imam 94 godine, ja ne radim Još Uvijek. Svatko tko me upita da li još uvijek radim ovo ili ono ja ne odgovaram jer ne radim stvari Još Uvijek, radim ih onako kako sam ih uvijek radila. Još Uvijek imam - da li sam upotrijebila riječi Još Uvijek? Nisam tako mislila.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
I have my file which is called To Do. I have my plans. I have my clients. I am doing my work like I always did. So this takes care of my age. I want to show you my work so you know what I am doing and why I am here. This was about 1925. All of these things were made during the last 75 years.
Imam dosje koji sam nazvala Za Napraviti. Imam svoje planove. Imam svoje klijente. Radim onako kako sam uvijek radila. Tako ne moram brinuti o godinama. Želim vam pokazati svoj rad kako bi znali što ja radim i zašto sam ovdje. Ovo je iz negdje 1925. Svi ovi predmeti su izrađeni u posljednjih 75 godina.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
But, of course, I'm working since 25, doing more or less what you see here. This is Castleton China. This was an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. This is now for sale at the Metropolitan Museum. This is still at the Metropolitan Museum now for sale. This is a portrait of my daughter and myself.
No naravno, ja radim od 1925., manje više ovo što vidite ovdje. Ovo je Castleton porculan. Ovo je bila izložba u Muzeju Moderne Umjetnosti. Ovo je trenutno na prodaji u Metropolitan Muzeju. Ovo je još uvijek na prodaji u Metropolitan Muzeju. Ovo je prikaz moje kćerke i mene.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
These were just some of the things I've made. I made hundreds of them for the last 75 years. I call myself a maker of things. I 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. The industrial design magazine, I believe, is called "Innovation." Innovation is not part of the aim of my work. Well, makers of things: they make things more beautiful, more elegant, more comfortable than just the craftsmen do. I have so much to say. I have to think what I am going to say. Well, to describe our profession otherwise, we are actually concerned with the playful search for beauty. That means the playful search for beauty was called the first activity of Man. Sarah Smith, who was a mathematics professor at MIT, wrote, "The playful search for beauty was Man's first activity -- that all useful qualities and all material qualities were developed from the playful search for beauty." These are tiles. The word, "playful" is a necessary aspect of our work because, actually, one of our problems is that we have to make, produce, lovely things throughout all of life, and this for me is now 75 years.
To su bile neke od stvari koje sam napravila. Napravila sam ih stotine u posljednjih 75 godina. Nazivam se tvorcem stvari. Ne nazivam se industrijskom dizajnericom jer sam ja nešto drugo. Industrijski dizajneri žele raditi novitete. Novitet je koncept trgovine, nije estetski koncept. Jedan časopis o industrijskom dizajnu se ja mislim zove "Inovacija". Inovacija nije ono što želim postići svojim radom. S druge strane, tvorci stvari rade stvari ljepšima, elegantnijima, ugodnijima nego to čine obrtnici. Imam toliko toga za reći. Moram razmisliti što želim reći. Dakle, kad bi drukčije opisivali našu profesiju, nas zanima zaigrana potraga za ljepotom. To znači da je zaigrana potraga za ljepotom bila prva aktivnost Čovjeka. Sarah Smith, koja je bila profesor matematike na MIT-u, je napisala: "Zaigrana potraga za ljepotom je bila prva Čovjekova aktivnost - sve korisne kvalitete i sve materijalne kvalitete su se razvile iz zaigrane potrage za ljepotom." Ovo su pločice. Riječ "zaigrano" je neophodan aspekt našeg rada jer je zapravo jedan od naših problema činjenica da moramo stvarati dražesne stvari cijeli naš život, a to je u mom slučaju 75 godina.
So how can you, without drying up, make things with the same pleasure, as a gift to others, for so long? The playful is therefore an important part of our quality as designer. Let me tell you some about my life. As I said, I started to do these things 75 years ago. My first exhibition in the United States was at the Sesquicentennial exhibition in 1926 -- that the Hungarian government sent one of my hand-drawn pieces as part of the exhibit. My work actually took me through many countries, and showed me a great part of the world. This is not that they took me -- the work didn't take me -- I made the things particularly because I wanted to use them to see the world. I was incredibly curious to see the world, and I made all these things, which then finally did take me to see many countries and many cultures. I started as an apprentice to a Hungarian craftsman, and this taught me what the guild system was in Middle Ages.
Stoga kako je moguće, bez gubitka inspiracije, stvarati stvari s istim zadovoljstvom kao poklon drugima tako dugo? Zaigranost je stoga važna dimenzija našeg identiteta kao dizajnera. Dopustite da vam ispričam nešto o svom životu. Kao što sam već rekla, počela sam stvarati prije 75 godina. Moje prvo izlaganje u SAD-u je bilo na Sesquicentennial izložbi održanoj 1926. - na koju je mađarska vlada poslala jedan moj nacrtani uradak kao dio izložbe. Moj rad me odveo u mnoge zemlje i pokazao mi dobar dio svijeta. Zapravo me nije odveo - nije me rad odveo - ja sam radila stvari jer sam ih htjela iskoristiti kako bih vidjela svijet. Bila sam nevjerojatno radoznala vidjeti svijet, zato sam radila sve te stvari, koje su me naposljetku zaista i odvele u mnoge zemlje i mnoge kulture. Počela sam kao šegrt kod mađarskog obrtnika, i to mi je dalo uvid u to kakav je bio cehovski sistem u srednjem vijeku.
The guild system: that means when I was an apprentice, I had to apprentice myself in order to become a pottery master. In my shop where I studied, or learned, there was a traditional hierarchy of master, journeyman and learned worker, and apprentice, and I worked as the apprentice. The work as an apprentice was very primitive. That means I had to actually learn every aspect of making pottery by hand. We mashed the clay with our feet when it came from the hillside. After that, it had to be kneaded. It had to then go in, kind of, a mangle. And then finally it was prepared for the throwing. And there I really worked as an apprentice. My master took me to set ovens because this was part of oven-making, oven-setting, in the time. And finally, I had received a document that I had accomplished my apprenticeship successfully, that I had behaved morally, and this document was given to me by the Guild of Roof-Coverers, Rail-Diggers, Oven-Setters, Chimney Sweeps and Potters.
Cehovski sistem: znači kada sam bila šegrt, morala sam se izučiti da bih postala keramički majstor. U dućanu gdje sam se obučavala, ili učila, bila je tradicionalna hijerarhija majstora, putujućeg trgovca i naučenog radnika i šegrta, i ja sam radila kao šegrt. Rad šegrta je bio vrlo primitivan. To znači da sam morala naučiti svaki aspekt izrade keramike ručno. Glinu koju su donijeli s brda smo gnječili stopalima. Nakon toga se morala mijesiti. Nakon toga se na neki način zamrsila. I konačno je onda bila spremna za bacanje. Tamo sam zaista radila kao šegrt. Majstor me vodio da podešavam pećnice jer je podešavanje pećnica bio dio pečenja. Naposljetku sam dobila dokument da sam uspješno završila svoje šegrstvo, da sam se ponašala primjereno i dokument su mi dali Ceh Krovopokrivača, Kopača trasa, Regulatora peći, Dimnjačara i Keramičara.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
I also got at the time a workbook which explained my rights and my working conditions, and I still have that workbook. First I set up a shop in my own garden, and made pottery which I sold on the marketplace in Budapest. And there I was sitting, and my then-boyfriend -- I didn't mean it was a boyfriend like it is meant today -- but my boyfriend and I sat at the market and sold the pots. My mother thought that this was not very proper, so she sat with us to add propriety to this activity.
Tada sam također dobila i radnu knjižicu u kojoj su objašnjena moja prava i radni uvjeti. Još uvijek imam tu knjižicu. Prvo sam postavila dućan u svome vrtu, te izrađivala keramiku koju sam prodavala na tržnici u Budimpešti. Tako sam tamo sjedila sa svojim ondašnjim dečkom- nije mi bio dečko po današnjoj definiciji, no moj dečko i ja smo sjedili na tržnici i prodavali posude. Moja majka je mislila da to nije primjereno stoga je sjedila s nama kako bi pridonijela primjerenosti te aktivnosti.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
However, after a while there was a new factory being built in Budapest, a pottery factory, a large one. And I visited it with several ladies, and asked all sorts of questions of the director. Then the director asked me, why do you ask all these questions? I said, I also have a pottery. So he asked me, could he please visit me, and then finally he did, and explained to me that what I did now in my shop was an anachronism, that the industrial revolution had broken out, and that I rather should join the factory. There he made an art department for me where I worked for several months. However, everybody in the factory spent his time at the art department. The director there said there were several women casting and producing my designs now in molds, and this was sold also to America.
No, nakon nekog vremena se izgradila nova tvornica u Budimpešti, ogromna tvornica keramike. Posjetila sam ju s nekoliko dama i pitala svakakva pitanja direktora. Onda je on mene pitao zašto ga pitam toliko pitanja? Rekla sam da i ja izrađujem keramiku. Zatim me upitao da li me može posjetiti, što je naposljetku i učinio i objasnio mi da je ono što sam ja radila u svom dućanu bilo zastarjelo, da je započela industrijska revolucija, te da bi bilo bolje da se zaposlim u tvornici. U tvornici je osnovao umjetnički odjel gdje sam radila nekoliko mjeseci. Svi u tvornici su proveli neko vrijeme u umjetničkom odjelu. Direktor mi je zatim rekao da nekoliko žena proizvodi i reproducira odljeve mojih radova te ih prodaju u Americi.
I remember that it was quite successful. However, the director, the chemist, model maker -- everybody -- concerned himself much more with the art department -- that means, with my work -- than making toilets, so finally they got a letter from the center, from the bank who owned the factory, saying, make toilet-setting behind the art department, and that was my end. So this gave me the possibility because now I was a journeyman, and journeymen also take their satchel and go to see the world. So as a journeyman, I put an ad into the paper that I had studied, that I was a down-to-earth potter's journeyman and I was looking for a job as a journeyman. And I got several answers, and I accepted the one which was farthest from home and practically, I thought, halfway to America.
Sjećam se da je to bilo prilično uspješno. No, direktor, kemičar, izrađivač modela - općenito svi - su se brinuli više za umjetnički odjel - što znači s mojim radom - nego s izradom wc-a, i tako su naposljetku dobili pismo od vrha, odnosno banke koja je bila vlasnik tvornice, koja im je poručila da stave proizvodnju wc-a ispred umjetničkog odjela i to je bio moj kraj. To mi je dalo nove mogućnosti jer sam postala putujući trgovac, a putujući trgovci uzimaju svoje torbe i idu vidjeti svijet. Stoga sam, kao putujući trgovac, stavila oglas u novine da sam studirala, da sam radišni putujući trgovac keramike i da tražim posao kao putujući trgovac. Dobila sam nekolicinu odgovora, prihvatila sam jedan koji je bio najdalji od kuće i praktično, kako sam mislila, na pola puta do Amerike.
And that was in Hamburg. Then I first took this job in Hamburg, at an art pottery where everything was done on the wheel, and so I worked in a shop where there were several potters. And the first day, I was coming to take my place at the turntable -- there were three or four turntables -- and one of them, behind where I was sitting, was a hunchback, a deaf-mute hunchback, who smelled very bad. So I doused him in cologne every day, which he thought was very nice, and therefore he brought bread and butter every day, which I had to eat out of courtesy. The first day I came to work in this shop there was on my wheel a surprise for me. My colleagues had thoughtfully put on the wheel where I was supposed to work a very nicely modeled natural man's organs. (Laughter) After I brushed them off with a hand motion, they were very -- I finally was now accepted, and worked there for some six months. This was my first job. If I go on like this, you will be here till midnight.
To je bilo u Hamburgu. Prihvatila sam taj posao u Hamburgu, u radionici umjetničke keramike gdje se sve radilo na kotaču, tako da sam radila u dućanu gdje je bilo nekoliko keramičara. Prvi dan, kada je došao moj red na kolu- bilo je tri, četiri kola-i za jednim od njih, gdje sam sjedila, je bio grbavac, gluho-nijemi grbavac koji je užasno zaudarao. Zato sam ga ja zalijevala s mirisom svaki dan, što se njemu jako sviđalo, pa je donosio kruh i maslac svaki dan, koje sam morala jesti iz pristojnosti. Prvi dan kada sam došla na posao na mom kolu se nalazilo iznenađenje. Kolege su mi na kolu gdje sam trebala raditi ostavili vrlo prikladno izrađen muški organ. (Smijeh) Samo sam im odmahnula rukom - napokon su me prihvatili, radila sam tamo otprilike 6 mjeseci. To je bio moj prvi posao. Ako ovako nastavim, biti ćete tu do ponoći.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
So I will try speed it up a little
Pokušat ću malo ubrzati
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Moderator: Eva, we have about five minutes.
Moderator: Eva, imamo još otprilike 5 minuta.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Eva Zeisel: Are you sure?
Eva Zeisel: Jeste li sigurni?
Moderator: Yes, I am sure.
Moderator: Da, siguran sam.
EZ: Well, if you are sure, I have to tell you that within five minutes I will talk very fast. And actually, my work took me to many countries because I used my work to fill my curiosity. And among other things, other countries I worked, was in the Soviet Union, where I worked from '32 to '37 -- actually, to '36. I was finally there, although I had nothing to do -- I was a foreign expert. I became art director of the china and glass industry, and eventually under Stalin's purges -- at the beginning of Stalin's purges, I didn't know that hundreds of thousands of innocent people were arrested. So I was arrested quite early in Stalin's purges, and spent 16 months in a Russian prison. The accusation was that I had successfully prepared an Attentat on Stalin's life. This was a very dangerous accusation. And if this is the end of my five minutes, I want to tell you that I actually did survive, which was a surprise. But since I survived and I'm here, and since this is the end of the five minutes, I will --
EZ: Pa, ako ste sigurni, moram vam sve ispričati u 5 minuta pa ću požuriti. Posao me zaista odveo u mnoge zemlje, jer sam koristila svoj rad kako bi zadovoljila svoju znatiželju. Među zemljama u kojima sam radila se nalazi i Sovjetski Savez, gdje sam radila od 1932. do 1937.- zapravo do 1936. Bila sam tamo, mada nisam imala ništa za raditi - bila sam strani stručnjak. Postala sam umjetnički direktor keramičke i staklene industrije, i za vrijeme Staljinovih čistki - na početku Staljinovih čistki, nisam znala da su stotine tisuća nevinih ljudi bili uhićeni. Tako da sam i ja bila uhićena skoro na početku Staljinovih čistki i provela sam 16 mjeseci u ruskom zatvoru. U optužnici mi je stajalo da sam uspješno pripremila atentat na Staljina. To je bila vrlo opasna optužba. Ako je sada kraj mojih 5 minuta, želim vam reći da sam preživjela, što je bilo iznenađenje. No pošto sam preživjela i ovdje sam, te pošto je ovo kraj mojih 5 minuta, ja ću -
Moderator: Tell me when your last trip to Russia was. Weren't you there recently?
Moderator: Recite mi kada ste zadnji put bili u Rusiji. Niste li bili tamo nedavno?
EZ: Oh, this summer, in fact, the Lomonosov factory was bought by an American company, invited me. They found out that I had worked in '33 at this factory, and they came to my studio in Rockland County, and brought the 15 of their artists to visit me here. And they invited myself to come to the Russian factory last summer, in July, to make some dishes, design some dishes. And since I don't like to travel alone, they also invited my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, so we had a lovely trip to see Russia today, which is not a very pleasant and happy view. Here I am now, if this is the end? Thank you.
EZ: O, pa zapravo, ovog ljeta, pozvali su me iz Lomonosov tvornice koju je kupila američka kompanija. Otkrili su da sam tamo radila 1933., došli su u moj studio u okrugu Rockland, i doveli 15 svojih umjetnika da me posjete. Pozvali su me da dođem u rusku tvornicu prošlo ljeto, u srpnju, da napravim, odnosno dizajniram neko posuđe. A pošto ja ne volim putovati sama, pozvali su i moju kćerku, zeta i unuku, tako da smo imali predivan izlet u Rusiju kakva je danas, što nije jako prijatan i sretan prizor. Eto, da li je sad kraj? Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)