RIP Eva Zeisel

I read in the news today that Eva Zeisel has passed away. In 2005 Jennifer Ludden did an interview with her on NPR. Hearing it live was a turning point for me – yes, yet another turning point in my near four decades of bicycle making. In the never ending pursuit of trying to get the next rung on the ladder, or to improve the tolerances that I work within, or just making my frames more beautiful and doing so with more ease and regularity, I have always been open to inspiration and direction. Folks who know me can attest that I rarely found these in my own trade. At the very end of the NPR interview, as Ms. Ludden was remarking that the many years in the studio (Eva Zeisel was 98 at the time) surely should have enabled her to reach a level of confidence and repeatability with the execution of each piece created, the reply given was humbling and has become a touchstone of sorts for me ever since.

If you try to do something perfect, I think this is the last time
you do anything. If you feel it, this is when have now reached
perfection, there can’t be anything beyond it.

The aforementioned interview lives here and there is a click thru to listen to it on your media player.