There are women, looking at who you understand that they had a life full of events. So, you somehow immediately get imbued with confidence that, despite all the vicissitudes, they managed to keep the most valuable thing — themselves. Eva Zeisel, who used to be Stricker, was one of them. She is a famous ceramist, sculptor and industrial designer who had been working in Hungary, Germany, the USSR and the USA for 105 years of her life. She has many projects in various fields of industrial design — from table linen to furniture and textiles. However, Eva herself never considered herself an industrial designer: "They are all obsessed with innovation, dream to surprise the world. I have never had such ambitions, so I call myself a "creator of things" — it is something between God and an artisan," she said in a recent interview in 2001. Beautifully and very accurately said: she is the creator of things! The items from her workshop are made for people, for everyday life. They are highly pragmatic but, at the same time, inspiringly poetic, absolutely functional, but full of feminine softness and charm. Her vases, glasses and sets are appropriate for the museum window as well as for the dining room of the most ordinary apartment.

However, one step at a time. Eva Amalia Stricker was born in Budapest in 1906 in the family of a textile factory owner and a history teacher. After graduating from school, Eva entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the faculty of painting, but did not study for a long time. It was 1925 — creative youth was raving about Corbusier`s ideas, preaching functionality, ease, freedom and simplicity. Artisan was equal to an artist. Sensitive to the spirit of the time, Eva Amalia stopped academic studies and became potter`s student, preferring practice to theory, and potter's wheel to canvas. Innate artistic talent, subtlety of perception, remarkable energy and passion for creativity quickly made the young artist a skilled artisan. Eva boldly took the bull by the horns and did not only open her own ceramic workshop, but also stood behind the counter, selling her dishes at the Budapest market.

Famous international exhibition of modern decorative and industrial arts in Paris in 1925 made a lasting impression on Eva Stricker, and for many years it was the benchmark of her creative exploration, turning young ceramics artist in the direction of industrial design and mass production. Eva closed her studio, moved to Hamburg and got a job at the Kunstkeramic factory, where she worked as a designer and studied the intricacies of industrial production. Already an experienced industrial designer, she returned to Budapest, where the Majolica factory produced more than 200 types of dishes based on her sketches.

Irrepressible energy from Eva Stricker was enough not only for the design of ceramics, but she was also really interested in graphic design and photography, realizing that the future was for professional advertising, as well as a lot and diligently engaged in painting. In 1930 she moved to Berlin, the epicenter of European political and social life, she became interested in social democratic ideas and joined the party. Passion for politics changed the life of a young woman — she fell in love with Soviet physicist Alex Weisberg, they got engaged and went to Kharkov, and then to Leningrad.

Eva got a job at the Imperial Porcelain Factory and got into the working group, headed by the main artist of the factory — reformer of Soviet porcelain, famous avant-garde artist Nikolai Suetin, the closest student, friend and follower of Malevich. It was a fateful meeting for both of them. Eva Stricker imbued with ideas of suprematism, and Suetin found a talented student with a tremendous sense of composition, plasticity and softness of style. They managed to humanize pointless suprematism, harmoniously combining hard lines and soft forms. It was Eva Stricker who we owe "Suprematism" set and famous "Intourist" set, which became favorite sites for artists at the factory, because their rounded forms, wide handles, unusually flat covers of teapots and creamers provided artists with a lot of opportunities for painting.

1920-30 — turbulent times, rich, dense, like a compressed to the extremes spring. The time of breaking of stereotypes, out-of-bounds, the search for new forms and supernova meaning. Time of scientific progress, faith in a bright future and the imminent victory of the human spirit. The time of bright and original artists, bold innovators and extraordinary solutions. Eva Stricker was talked about as an artist of great and subtle talent. The slogan "Young have their path everywhere" was brought to life, and Eva Stricker was invited to Moscow by people's commissar Ukhanov. She, a 29-year-old artist, was offered the position of an artistic director of porcelain and glass industry in Russia and set a goal — to bring the design of Soviet products to the international level. Eva agreed and started a great job to reorganize 47 factories, opening special model labs there. Famous Dulev series "Mocha" and "Blue Grid", created in such design labs, were made by her.

In 1935, Eva Stricker was suddenly arrested and accused of being a member of a group which aim was to kill Stalin. The accusation was delusional, but for those years it was natural. She spent a year and a half in solitary confinement in Leningrad Kresty (jail). Eva did not like to talk about that time, she only said that she had owed her freedom to her mother and European friends, who demanded her release as a prominent representative of European culture and that that terrible experience was given to her in order to love life more. In 1937 she was released and sent away from the USSR. Some believe that Arthur Koestler's novel "Darkness at Noon" was inspired by Eva Stricker`s story.

Poland, Austria, escaping from the Nazis to Switzerland and then to England. There Eva Stricker married young lawyer Hans Zeisel, and they emigrated to the United States, having in his pocket 64 dollars for two. To somehow make ends meet, she had to become a cleaner. However, the long months of prison and hardships of wandering life did not break Eva. More than anything else, she loved to draw, sculpt, "creating things" and that love and thirst to become again who she was — an artist and designer, gave her strength and courage. Stumbling upon the library journal, devoted to glass and porcelain, Eva wrote the publisher to get orders to create several lamp shades. After receiving the order, the publisher was struck by the beauty, professionalism and originality of style, and gave the artist excellent recommendations.

Four years later, Eva Zeisel was already lecturing at the Metropolitan, and the Museum of Modern Art organized her personal exhibition. In the early 1940s she was recognized as one of the best American designers-potters, with the release of a landmark set "Stratoware", which is still idolized by American lovers of porcelain.

For many years with inexhaustible enthusiasm and love, Eva Zeisel was involved in the creation of porcelain sets. Her dishes were ergonomic and aesthetic, delicate and refined. The rounded shape of the cups touched comfortably, sugar bowls resembled thin-necked overseas birds, vases were chiseled female figures, and creamers were amazing water lilies. Eva Zeisel was a poet of industrial design, striving to fill everyday life with beauty and feelings. Her philosophy was simple and fitted into one sentence: "Beautiful things make people happy."