If you’ve got a pottery fetish, chances are you know the work of Jill Rosenwald. Ceramicist and Back Bay mom, Jill has been designing whirly swirly patterned bowls and vases for years. I recently profiled her ups and downs in Stuff Magazine in “Ceramic Designer Jill Rosenwald Has Once Again Found Her Niche.” It’s worth a read – she’s hysterical when she talks about how she got started. (A cute guy and lots of hideous earrings.) Here are some other fun tidbits from the interview, as well as a sampling of Jill’s designs.
Photo courtesy of Stuff Magazine
Where are you finding inspiration these days?
These days a lot of my inspiration is coming from my husband, Lawrence, who just launched a line of lamps with cut-outs, so I’m doing a lot of circles. Also, mistakes are the best thing ever. Laurence made a big drill bit for a lamp, but the piece he ended up with looks like lace. There was nothing left, but it was great looking.
When I visited your studio I saw a pair of Pucci underwear pinned on your inspiration board.
Yes, grandma’s underwear. I knew my grandmother had Pucci scarves, but when she died and my mom went to clean out her place, she found that pair in a drawer, wrapped in tissue paper. I’m a big Pucci fan too.
Design idols?
Diana Vreeland, Gio Ponti, Charles and Ray Eames.
What were your earliest inspirations and influences?
The Guggenheim museum. I grew up near it. I love that building. I grew up around hippies, and that influenced me quite a bit too.
Current obsessions?
I’m in passionate search for fabric for four chairs in my house. I really want to do them in Kelly Wearstler citrus green Trellis, but it’s expensive. Her fabric design is so great. I love how it is huge, really overblown, big and bold and fabulous. I’m also loving Galbraith and Paul’s hand-blocked printed fabrics, but at a hundred bucks a yard, it’s not happening. I also love Roberta Roller Rabbit’s simple cool prints on linen for $20 a yard. I might get one of those.
Jill Rosenwald Home Collection
