Michael Graves’ kitchenware line lives on with 100 new products
Hands down, my favorite designer of all time is Michael Graves. The Princeton-based architect, designer and professor did more for American design than anyone I know.
Graves died five years ago last week at age 80, after gracing the world with more than 350 landmark buildings from Egypt to the Netherlands, and designing more than 2,500 household products.
Fortunately, his legacy lives on. His namesake design firm, Michael Graves Design, is about to roll out a new generation of kitchenware with more than 100 items, including cookware and items for kitchen organizing and food storage.
The news reminded me of my first conversation with Graves, in 1999, when his housewares debuted in Target stores, bringing high design to the masses.
The new housewares line was set to debut at Chicago’s Inspired Home Show, which was canceled last week due to coronavirus concerns. But I had a sneak peek last month. Among the items that caught my eye — and could soon be in a store near you — are canisters that give you just a glimpse of what’s in them, glammed up dish racks and a wine decanter like none you’ve ever seen.
The new kitchen items “are useful, accessible, attractive and play nice with others,” said Donald Strum, who heads product design for MGD. While “most canisters are either completely opaque or completely clear,” Strum said, both have issues.
The opaque ones leave you guessing what’s inside and how much is left.
Clear ones feature too much of the not-so attractive contents. (Do we really want to see all that dry rice?) The MGD canisters are sleek stainless-steel silos with a 2-inch strip of glass at the bottom, so you can glimpse what’s inside and know when you’re almost out.
Dish racks are a kitchen workhorse that get a lot of counter time but rarely look great. “We love to infuse mundane items with a bit of glamour,” Strum said. The reinterpreted dish rack comes in charcoal gray metal with gold wire accents and deep indigo with metal accents. “They’re like jewelry for the kitchen.”
My favorite item, however, is the wine decanter. The clear glass-blown vessel contains a blue bird, reminiscent of a ship in a bottle. (How did that get in there?) As you pour wine into the decanter, it will flow over the bird’s wings, becoming aerated — and the bird will look like it’s floating on the wine’s surface. It’s Graves’ magic formula: form, function and whimsy all at once.
Here’s what else Graves taught us:
HIS APPROACH >> Whether designing a city library or a toaster, Graves studied everything we humans encounter and asked one focal question: How can engaging with this item be a better experience? And how can it be accessible to the masses?
“I always wanted the objects I designed to be available to everyone,” he once told me.
HIS SCOPE >> Few people are both humble and grand. Graves was equally at home designing a federal courthouse and a toilet plunger.
“People didn’t like to have their plungers out in the open, so I designed one with a little keeper,” he told me. That toilet plunger with caddy, incidentally, landed in a modern art museum.
HIS HUMOR >> Great design does not stop at the simplest, most efficient intersection of function and beauty. It has something more — a touch of whimsy. When designing the Disney Co. headquarters in Burbank, Graves drew inspiration from classic Greek temples — except instead of statues of the gods, he used statues of the Seven Dwarves. Graves wanted his work to make you smile.
As of February, Graves’ work, and the entire collection of his 2,500-plus products, are on display and are part of the permanent collection of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of five home and lifestyle books, including “Downsizing the Family Home What to Save, What to Let Go” and “Downsizing the Blended Home — When Two Households Become One” (Sterling Publishing, 2019). You may reach her at marnijameson.com.