Eva Zeisel is Hotter Than Ever

Eva Zeisel is Hotter Than Ever
She first created a splash in American housewares more than 50 years ago. But today, Eva Zeisel might be hotter than ever.

The Hungarian-born industrial designer best known for her curvaceous dinnerware has just come out with a picture book, "Eva Zeisel on Design: The Magic Language of Things" (Overlook, $37.50). She's the subject of a touring exhibition that will come to Washington in April.

And in her Manhattan apartment, her classic mid-century tableware and glasses jockey for space with myriad recently designed products -- everything from stylish platters, lamps and pen sets, to vases that nestle vertically or sidle up to one another.

All breathe life.

A ring at the door brings an eye-popping glass table with an orange-resin base she created for Dune. A second ring, and it's early mock-ups of jewelry she's doing with another designer.

Did we mention that Zeisel is 97 years old?

Members of the Eva Zeisel Forum are preparing not one but three volumes on her prolific output, and Karen Kettering, curator of the traveling exhibition -- "Eva Zeisel: The Playful Search for Beauty" -- is busy collaborating with the designer on a new biography. ("She makes me feel lazy," Kettering confesses.)

All this on the heels of a 2003 monograph (by Lucie Young for Chronicle Books) and documentary (Jyll Johnstone's "Throwi