Designer: Peter Eisenman (b. 1932)

Item: Icarus Prototype Dinner Plate

Manufactured by: Swid Powell

Country of origin: Japan

Year made: 1989

Materials: Porcelain with sandblasted etching and textured transfer decal decoration.

Dimensions: 12” in diameter

Condition: Excellent

Description: Here is a very rare prototype plate designed by important American architect Peter Eisenman that never went into production. Although Eisenman was engaged to design for Swid Powell, only one object he designed was ever actually put into production for sale to the public.  That was his Candelabrum for Swid Powell’s The Architects Collection special limited-edition objects, and only five were ever made.

For this plate, it was initially planned that a very limited number of these plates (likely less than 25) would be made to coincide with the opening in 1989 of the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts at Ohio State University. The Wexner Center for the Visual Arts complex was Eisenman’s first major public commission. However, only a handful of prototypes were made, and the very limited production that is mentioned in the Tapert book on page 126, was never actually done. It is most likely that the draft of the Tapert book had gone to print before the decision was made not to produce the very limited edition of this design.

The textured design on the surface of this plate relates to architectural elements of the design of the Wexner Center complex itself. Eisenman also designed a companion plate named Daedalus that was also only prototyped and appears in the Tapert book on page 127.

References: Tapert, Annette. SWID POWELL: Objects by Architects, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. (1990) pages 126-127. 

Provenance: Marc Hacker, Vice President for Design and Development at Swid Powell.  Hacker is an architect who studied with Michael Graves at Princeton University.  Upon graduating he moved to New York City and worked for architect Richard Meier.  As a result of his work for Meier, Hacker was hired by Swid Powell, because they needed a formally trained architect to work with their stable of architects and designers to achieve the final objects produced for sale.  Hamel20, LLC is honored to represent the Hacker collection of Swid Powell objects, which includes prototypes and designs that were never produced for sale.