Hallcraft Century: The Perils of Porcelain

WAY BACK BEFORE 1stDibs, and definitely back before eBay became the largest flea market on earth, the place online to find people who had mid-century modern things to sell was a little forum on AOL called Deco Echoes. There was no real-time bidding, sniping, or Paypal. You posted what you were looking for or what you had to sell, and wait for the e-mails to come. Once a sale is made you snail mailed your check or money order to the seller, and, if you happen to be buying something as fragile as china, you held your breath until the package arrived at your doorstep. Which brings me to Century.

Hallcraft Century creamer, sugar bowl, and teapot

Century was the second of the three lines that Eva Zeisel designed for Hall. Showing unusual restraint this time around, the company only made a few lines available with applied decoration, the most common of which are Fern, Sunglow, and Garden of Eden. Pure white pieces are exceedingly rare and highly desired. Although aesthetically as beautiful as (some might even argue that it was a more sophisticated design than) Tomorrow's Classic, it had a fatal flaw—it was prone to breakage during shipment. Released in 1956, Century is distinguished by its teardrop-shaped plates, platters and bowls. One of the most iconic photographs of Zeisel's designs is a nested stack of white Century bowls and platters against a black background. Used on the cover of the exhibition catalog "Eva Zeisel: Designer for Industry", the pieces resembled a frozen milk drop caught on a high-speed camera.

Left: Century bowls and platters; right: book cover, Eva Zeisel: Designer for industry

Unfortunately, the lovely points of the teardrop shapes did not stack well and would chip or break during shipment. Of the close to thirty pieces that we bought from our lovely Deco Echoes seller for $200 (which was quite a big expense at the time!), only a handful survived the shipment. Of course, the fact that he just threw all the pieces into a box with no bubble wrap in between the pieces, or insulation on the outside walls of the box, probably did not help. Although we managed to get only some of our money back (the seller got the bulk of the insurance money and we were refunded the considerably lesser purchase price), we did learn what eventually became the mantra of our collecting—bubblewrap, double box, insurance!

Bottom stamp: Hallcraft Century

Tomorrow's Classic: It's Just a Fantasy

IF YOU POLL most Zeisel collectors, chances are their first pieces were from the Tomorrow's Classic line of dishes from Hallcraft. They are easily the most common line of Zeisel designs available in the secondary market. Brad and I have a game that we play when we go to flea markets or antique stores—the first one who spots a Zeisel gets a kiss. More often than not, a piece of Tomorrow's Classic will present itself somewhere in the aisles.

Tomorrow's Classic creamer, coffee server, sugar bowl, and teapot

Although the unadorned white pieces are the most sought after today, when the line was designed in 1952, Hallcraft saw them as the perfect vessels for applied decoration. And decorate they did—from the popular floral Bouquet to the quirky gold marbled Surf Ballet. In addition to the patterns, there were also pieces in solid black, gray, and orange. We have even seen lobsters printed on the large platters, and advertising applied to the jugs. Brad once had this ambition to collect a place setting of each pattern but we wisely realized that we would never have enough cupboard space to store all that china. So, our final set consists of white and black pieces, along those decorated with Fantasy—a pattern of black squiggles and gold dots conceived by Ross Littell, who along with William Katavolos and Douglas Kelley, would later design the iconic T-Chair.

Fantasy pattern

With close to forty pieces in the line, it is one of the most extensive commissions that Eva has designed. In addition to the usual place settings and serving pieces, there are candlesticks, cruets, and after dinner servers. There are even pieces that we probably have no use for today, such as marmites, onion soup bowls, and asparagus trays. Innovations included handles that flare up gracefully from the body of the jugs and pots (as opposed to being applied), oblong plates (as opposed to being round), lug handled platters, and reversible egg cups (one end for a hardboiled egg or use the other end for poached).

Tomorrow's Classic gravy boat, vase, and reversible egg cups.

I think my favorite piece is the basket-shaped gravy boat, although the hardest one to find was the flower vase. Tomorrow's Classic makes for an elegant, though formal table, so they come out only during Christmas, Thanksgiving, or when the Queen comes to visit (long may he reign).

Bottom stamp, Hallcraft Tomorrow's Classic

Crate and Barrel and Royal Stafford recently re-released Tomorrow's Classic and married them with pieces from another of Eva's lines for Hallcraft. The combined line is called  Classic Century. The new pieces have a slightly yellower cast than the vintage ones, and they added a mug to the line, which is just an elongated version of the classic cup. Needless to say, we prefer the older stuff, but overall, the re-released pieces have successfully kept the integrity and playfulness of Eva's design. So, the next time you and your significant other find yourselves at a Crate and Barrel, you too can play "Spot the Zeisel". Opportunities for free kisses should never be wasted.

Boys meet Eva: A Harlequin Romance

THIS LOVE STORY started in a little railroad apartment above a country store in Dekalb, IL. Brad just started his post as a design professor at NIU, and I had just moved to the US from Canada, having given up my job at an ad agency so that we can finally live in the same city after two years of being apart. We were graphic designers but our infatuation with mid-century modern design was in its very infancy. I think we had one piece of modern furniture at the time, a red Eames side shell chair that we spotted while driving through Minneapolis (we did a lot of driving in those days).

The Country Store below us was actually a thrift store run by a local women's organization. Brad spotted a set of dishes in their window one day and told me about it. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. The undulating forms of the platters, the oblong (not round) plates, and the graceful sweep of the jug handles (plus the $10 price tag for the set!) proved irresistible. The stamp at the bottom of the dishes read "Hallcraft by Eva Zeisel" but we had no idea who she was until she was profiled a few months later in the June 1996 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. We found out that Zeisel was one of the most prolific and groundbreaking modern designers of the twentieth century. We learned that the dishes we now owned was from a line called Tomorrow's Classic and the pink and gray pattern was named Harlequin.

Harlequin pattern

We saw pictures of the other dishes she designed. We were mesmerized, and we were hooked. Sixteen years later, we are still in love with Zeisel's designs, and surprisingly—even through hundreds of pieces, irrational treasure hunts, and harrowing cross-country household moves—with each other. These are our stories, told through the pieces of porcelain, china, and glass conceived by a remarkable woman we simply call Eva.

Photo by Talisman Brolin. www.talismanphoto.com