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.
Razumem da je ovaj sastanak bio planiran i da mu je slogan "Od nekad do još uvek". Ja predstavljam "još uvek". S čim se, naravno, ne slažem, jer iako su mi 94 godine, ja ne radim "još uvek". Svakome ko me pita: "Radiš li još uvek ovo ili ono?", ne odgovaram, jer ne radim stvari "još uvek", nego onako kako sam uvek i radila. Još uvek imam -- jesam li rekla "još uvek"? Nisam tako mislila.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 svoj dosije koji se zove Uraditi. Imam svoje planove. Imam svoje klijente. I radim svoj posao kao što sam oduvek radila. Ovo vodi računa o mojim godinama. Želim da vam pokažem svoj rad kako biste znali šta radim i zašto sam ovde. Ovo je bilo oko 1925. Sve ove stvari napravljene su tokom poslednjih 75 godina.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
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.
Naravno, ja radim od svoje 25. godine, praveći, manje više, ovo što vidite ovde. Ovo je Kaselton porcelan. Ovo je bila izložba u Muzeju savremene umetnosti. Ovo je sada na prodaji u Metropolitan muzeju. Ovo je još uvek u Metropolitan muzeju, sada na prodaji. Ovo je portret moje ćerke i mene.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
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.
Ovo su samo neke od stvari koje sam napravila. Napravila sam stotine ovakvih u poslednjih 75 godina. Nazivam sebe stvaraocem stvari. Ne nazivam sebe industrijskim dizajnerom jer nisam samo to. Industrijski dizajneri žele da prave nove stvari. Novitet je koncept trgovine, a ne estetski koncept. Časopis koji se bavi industrijskim dizajnom se zove Inovacija. Inovacija nije ono što želim da postignem svojim radom. Stvaraoci stvari: čine stvari lepšim, elegantnijim. udobnijim, nego što to čini zanatlija. Imam mnogo toga da kažem. Moram da razmislim šta želim da kažem. Kako bih drugačije opisala našu profesiju, rekla bih da se mi zapravo bavimo razigranom potragom za lepotom. To znači da je razigrana potraga za lepotom bila prva aktivnost Čoveka. Sara Smit, koja je bila profesor matematike na Institutu za tehnologiju, napisala je: "Razigrana potraga za lepotom je bila prva aktivnost Čoveka, svi korisni kvaliteti i materijalni kvaliteti su se razvili iz razigrane potrage za lepotom." Ovo su pločice. Reč "razigrano" je neophodan aspekt našeg rada, jer je zapravo jedan od naših problema taj što moramo da pravimo, proizvodimo lepe stvari tokom čitavog života, u mom slučaju to je sada već 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.
Dakle, kako možeš, bez gubitka inspiracije, da praviš stvari sa jednakim zadovoljstvom, kao poklon drugima, tako dugo? Razigranost zato predstavlja važan deo naše osobenosti kao dizajnera. Dozvolite da vam kažem nešto o svom životu. Kao što sam rekla, počela sam ovo da pravim pre 75 godina. Moja prva izložba u Americi bila je na stopedestogodišnjoj izložbi 1926. godine na koju je je mađarska vlada poslala jedan moj crtež kao deo izložbe. Moj rad me je odveo u mnoge zemlje i pokazao mi veliki deo sveta. Zapravo me nije odveo -- rad me nije odveo -- pravila sam stvari baš zato što sam ih htela iskoristiti da vidim svet. Htela sam da vidim svet iz radoznalosti, te sam pravila sve ove stvari koje su me naposletku zaista i odvele u mnoge zemlje i mnoge kulture. Počela sam kao pripravnik kod mađarskog zanatlije i to me je naučilo kakav je bio esnafski sistem u srednjem veku.
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.
Esnafski sistem znači da sam bila pripravnik, morala sam da učim da bih postala grnčarski majstor. U radionici u kojoj sam učila, postojala je tradicionalna hijerarhija: zanatlija, najamnik i naučeni radnik, pripravnik, a ja sam radila kao pripravnik. Taj posao je bio prilično primitivan. Značilo je da sam morala da naučim sve aspekte ručnog pravljenja grnčarije. Nogama smo mešali glinu kada je stizala sa brda. Posle toga smo je mesili, pa valjali. Najzad je glina bila spremna za rad. Stvarno sam radila kao pripravnik. Zanatlija me učio kako da namestim peći jer je to bilo vreme kada smo nameštali peći. Najzad, kada sam dobila dokument da sam završila sa svojim pripravništvom, da sam se lepo ponašala, dobila sam sertifikat od strane udruženja krovopokrivača, kopača šina i podešivača peći čistača dimnjaka i grnčara.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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 dobila i knjigu o pravima zaposlenih, o uslovima rada i još uvek imam tu knjigu. Prvo sam napravila radionicu u svojoj bašti i pravila posuđe koje sam prodavala na pijaci u Budimpešti. Sedela sam tamo zajedno sa svojim tadašnjim momkom -- nije mi to bio momak kao što je to danas -- ali zajedno smo bili na pijaci i prodavali posuđe. Moja majka je smatrala da to nije u redu, tako da je i ona sedela sa nama, da bi to bilo pristojno.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Međutim, u to vreme se gradila fabrika u Budimpešti, velika fabrika posuđa. Nekoliko gospođa i ja, posetile smo fabriku i postavljale svakakva pitanja direktoru. Tada me je direktor pitao zašto postavljam sva ta pitanja. Rekla sam da i ja proizvodim posuđe. On me je pitao da li bi mogao da dođe i vidi šta ja to tačno radim, te je došao i objasnio mi je da je to što radim zastarelo, jer je industrijska revolucija započela i da bi bilo bolje kada bih radila u fabrici. Radila sam nekoliko meseci u fabrici na umetničkom odeljenju. Međutim, svi u fabrici su provodili svoje vreme na umetničkom odeljenju. Direktor mi je rekao da nekoliko žena pravi kalupe i proizvodi prema mom dizajnu i to se prodavalo čak i 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.
Sećam se, to je bilo vrlo uspešno. Međutim, direktor, hemičari, modelari, gotovo svi -- brinuli su mnogo više o umetničkom odeljenju -- što znači moj posao -- nego pravljenje toaleta, naposletku su dobili pismo iz centrale, od banke koja je posedovala fabriku, govoreći da prave toalete u umetničkom odeljenju. Bio je to moj kraj. To mi je otvorilo mnoge mogućnosti, zato što sam sada bila najamni radnik, a najamnik spakuje torbu i obilazi svet. Dakle, kao najamnik sam stavila oglas u novinama da sam obrazovana, da sam realističan najamni radnik i da tražim posao. Dobila sam nekoliko odgovora i prihvatila jedan koji je bio najudaljeniji od kuće, mislila sam da je 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. Prvo sam radila u Hamburgu, kao umetnički grnčar gde se sve radilo preko točka, u toj radionici je radilo još nekoliko ljudi zajedno sa mnom. Prvog dana, kada sam došla da zauzmem svoje mesto -- tamo su bila 3 ili 4 točka -- i onaj koji je bio iza mog, za njim je sedeo jedan gluvonemi grbavac koji je zaista loše mirisao. Tako da sam ga polivala parfemom svaki dan, što je on smatrao veoma lepim gestom i zauzvart je donosio hleb i puter svaki dan, koji sam morala da jedem iz pristojnosti. Prvog dana na poslu, na mom točku je bilo malo iznenađenje. Moje kolege su stavile na točak na kojem sam trebala da radim lepo oblikovan muški polni organ. (Smeh) Pošto sam samo mahnula rukom, oni su -- konačno su me prihvatili i tamo sam radila 6 meseci. To je bio moj prvi posao. Ako ovako nastavim, bićete ovde do ponoći.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
So I will try speed it up a little
Ubrzaću malo.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Moderator: Eva, we have about five minutes.
Moderator: Eva, imamo još 5 minuta.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Eva Zeisel: Are you sure?
Eva: Jesi li siguran?
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 --
Eva: Pa, ako si siguran, onda ću govoriti jako brzo da bih vam sve rekla. Moj posao me je odveo u mnoge zemlje jer sam radila da bih zadovoljila svoju radoznalost. Između ostalog, radila sam i u Sovjetskom Savezu, tamo sam bila od 1932. do 1937., zapravo do 1936. Bila sam tamo, iako ništa nisam radila, bila sam strani ekspert. Postala sam umetnički direktor za porcelan i staklenu industriju, i za vreme Staljinovih čistki, zapravo na samom početku, nisam znala da su hapsili stotine hiljada ljudi. Tako da sam i sama bila uhapšena i provela sam 16 meseci u jednom ruskom zatvoru. Optužbe su bile da sam uspešno pripremala atentat na Staljina. Ovo je bila ozbiljna optužba. Ako je ovo kraj mojih 5 minuta, želim samo da kažem da sam preživela, što je bilo iznenađenje. Ali pošto sam preživela i sada sam ovde, i 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 poslednji put bili u Rusiji? Zar niste nedavno bili tamo?
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.
Eva: Zapravo, ovog leta Lomonosovu fabriku je kupila američka kompanija, pozvali su me. Saznali su da sam radila u ovoj fabrici tokom 1933. došli su u moj studio u okrugu Rokland i posetili su me sa sa 15 svojih umetnika. Pozvali su me da dođem u rusku fabriku prošlog leta, u julu, da im dizajniram neko posuđe. Pošto ne volim da putujem sama, pozvali su i moju ćerku, zeta i moju unuku, imali smo lepu posetu današnjoj Rusiji, koja i nije neka lepota. I eto me sada ovde. Je l' ovo kraj? Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)