A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL GRAVES

In my next life, I want to be Michael Graves. If given a “do over”, I aspire to being an architecture but not just any architect. If I’m making a choice: famous painter vs. ——, discoverer of cancer cure vs.——, or writer of the great transcendent novel vs. —-then my —- must be Michael Graves (Susan Susanka, a close second.) 

Michael Graves died March 12, 2015.  He was 80 years old. He was paralyzed from his mid-chest down following an illness 10 years ago. But he continued to teach at Princeton and gathered a team of devoted designers - many of whom were former students of his - that stayed together for 50 years.  The Michael Graves team developed everything from hotels to salt and pepper shakers, hospitals to tea kettles, schools to ironing boards.

And that’s what I want to talk about. In the 1980s, I watched a massive swing in the craft world. The movement that began in the 1960s as a re-awakening of crafts - a reverence for the art of handmade - took a big detour into the realm of ART. 

The 60’s and 70’s were a whirlwind of exploration and discovery: how to actually build a functioning art glass studio, build a forge independent of a major factory, create and fire clay in ways used by Chinese master potters who worked 2000 years before. These were remarkable achievements and brought with them a lifestyle: “the way of the artist.” 

Colleges began turning out graduates with degrees in fiber, wood, metal, clay and inter spliced was a philosophy that “sculpture” got more respect (museums, academics, critics) and pieces titled “art” commanded higher prices. From then on it seemed that nearly everybody began making objects described as the “essence of a chair,” “teapot forms”, or whatever thing that looked vaguely recognizable but with no earthly utility.

At about the same time, Michael Graves picked up the thread from Morris: “Do not have anything in your house that is not beautiful or useful…and aspire for BOTH!” (That isn’t a direct Morris quote…I’ve improved.) The Graves team launched a line of beautifully designed objects that nearly any homeowner could purchase. First produced by expensive manufacturers like Alessi, the Graves team went full out with the same level of design for Target - a $20 toaster or a $4.99 colander.

Some of the clay/wood/metal/textile/glass people have persevered; most have not. The world can only use a limited number of “teapot forms.”  Graves team set out to improve design for average households and it’s that intent that sways me.

(An exhibition of design and objects created by Michael Graves is on view through April at Princeton.  For information:  www.pastasprologue.com

A memorial in his honor will be held at Princeton, April 12.

(Photographs:    I love the colorful cubes of St. Coletta School in Washington, D.C. built for children with intellectual or multiple disabilities.  The houses are part of the Wounded Warrior Home Project at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. This is a fascinating military housing project for soldiers with physical limitations following service in Iraq or Afghanistan and their families.  The colander is available at Target.)