EDISON, N.J.–Before she died a year ago at age 105, Eva Zeisel was wrapping up her first lighting collection with Leucos, a brand with high-end Italian lighting company Leucos USA. Now available at retail, the collection of six pieces based on two shapes show off Zeisel’s signature style of sensuous curves and organic forms.
“Working with Eva Zeisel, her daughter Jean Richards and the Eva Zeisel team has been an honor and a very moving experience,” said Josie Anthony, president of Leucos USA. “It was a pleasure to liaise with such talented people who share our commitment to excellence. We were both deeply invested in the project and wanted to take the time to get every single detail right; it took nearly a year of close collaboration and mutual support before we were able to bring Eva Zeisel’s exquisite designs to the market in Leucos’ signature handblown glass.”
Zeisel always liked to design products in “families,” Richards said at a press preview today. “She didn’t like individual pieces.” Zeisel named the two styles in the collection Spring and Summer after feeling their smooth contours. Suitable for residential and commercial use, the collection is available in incandescent or fluorescent light sources. In addition, the incandescent versions can be retrofitted with energy-saving LEDs.
“Eva always thought of her designs as gifts to others. She was so happy Leucos was producing them, so she could share the gift of these lamps with a wider audience,” Richards said in a release. “She was always glad when her designs reached the market, as up to the end, she considered herself a ‘working woman.’” Richards added that this lighting line is already in the permanent collection of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and will be in an exhibition next year.
In addition, the Spring and Summer pendants are also featured at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery through Jan. 19, 2013, as part of Pratt Institute’s 125th anniversary exhibit entitled “125 Icons: A Celebration of Works by Pratt Alumni and Faculty, 1887-2012.”