… what beauty can come from hardship and necessity

Jasper Morrison (born 1959) from London is a product designer and works with well-known manufacturers from Europe, the USA and Japan. He designs furniture, lighting, shoes, watches, etc. In this book, Morrison deals with everyday objects from Portugal, photographs and describes them. He is fascinated by the balance between functionality and perfection in form and draws inspiration from it for his work. He succeeded in liberating the objects from their original surroundings and viewing them from a new perspective. The objects come from the Ethnological Museum in Lisbon.

A wonderful book in which characterful everyday objects from the pre-industrial era come into their own. I am impressed by the similarity of the objects in shape, regardless of where they come from Europe. They sometimes differ in materiality, depending on what was available on site. I also got a different way of looking at the ceramics, wooden objects or woven baskets in our shop.

The Hard Life, Jasper Morrison, Lars Müller Publishers