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Prod lift Placement
Jonathan A dler
When Jonathan Adler was 12
years old his parents sent him
to camp expecting him to return
tanned and toned from two
months of swimming and sports.
“Instead, they found a pasty
potter who had spent the sum-
mer in the pottery studio com-
pletely obsessed,” jokes Adler.
“I came back changed.”
Within a year Adler con-
vinced his parents to buy him
a pottery wheel and kiln. “My
father was a lawyer, but he spent
every spare moment painting
and sculpting in his studio in our
basement. My parents totally
understood my creative drive,”
Adler says, revealing why his
parents were willing to believe
that his new'found passion w'as
something more than a whim.
“The only hurdle w'as convinc-
ing my mother that I w'ould not
get clay dust all over our white
wall-to-wall carpet.”
Adler’s parents might have
been exceptionally supportive,
but they might never have pre-
dicted Adler’s incredible success
as a potter, designer, merchan-
diser and judge on the Bravo
reality series
Top Design.
Even
he never thought it would be
016 american craft dec/jan 10
a career. He studied semiotics
and art history at Brown Univer-
sity, and after college he began
working in the movie business.
“I was a horrid employee,”
Adler says. “I got fired from
every job.” During this unem-
ployment Adler made pots, and
as his employment prospects
dwindled he found himself mak-
ing more and more. “I finally
showed them to a buyer at Bar-
neys and got an order, and then
got another,” he explains. “It
just grew' organically.”
After several years of work-
ing feverishly Adler realized he
needed help. That’s W'hen he
discovered Aid to Artisans, the
nonprofit organization that con-
nects designers with artisans in
developing countries. He es-
tablished a relationship w'ith
a workshop in Peru. “By freeing
myself from production I w'as
able to have a creative explo-
sion,” Adler says. This also gave
him the time to open a store
in New' York City that carried
ceramics, including Luciana
Vase©, and textiles, a medium
that he’d fallen in love with in
Peru, such as Zebra British Flag
Rug©.
Since then Adler, w'ho still
considers himself a potter
above all else, has expanded to
an entire line of interior design
merchandise and opened 10 oth-
er stores. “Hardy Amies was
once asked why he dressed the
queen of England in colorful
and approachable ensembles
rather than high fashion,” Adler
explains in reference to his
style. “Amies replied, ‘There is
an unkindness to chic, and the
queen must never appear un-
kind.’ M y mission in life is to
achieve the impossible and com-
bine chic design w'ith happy
design.”— s.s.
M A / Salem
Peabody Essex Museum
Trash Menagerie
to May 31
pem.org
With an eye on ecological con-
cerns, artists convert everyday
w'aste into playful, attractive
and at times disarmingly realis-
tic animals.
NE / Lincoln
International Quilt Study
Center & Museum
Perspectives: Art, Craft, Design
and the Studio Quilt
to May 9
quiltstudv.org
Never intended for a bed, 21
art quilts from the iq sc collec-
tion expressively communicate
a broad spectrum of design
concepts.
NJ/Clinton
Hunterdon Art Museum
Knitted, Knotted, Netted
to Jan.24
hunterdonartmuseum.org
Fresh, technically diverse ap-
proaches and w'idely differing
materials result in novel textile
art by 12 pioneering artists.
NM / Santa Fe
© Patina Gallery
Boris Bally: deSigns
Dec. 4-Jan. 3
patina-gallerv.com
With his sculpting skills and
zest for fun, Bally transforms
the remains of street signs into
witty, innovative objects and
furniture, such as
'Yellow Table.
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