Cup and saucer from a tea service c. 1930

This tea service was made by Margarete Heymann-Marks Löbenstein, but the date remains unknown. I'm looking at this collection of cups, saucers, and pots and imagining Margarete in her studio, coaxing these smooth, white forms from clay. The surfaces are matte and unglazed, giving a tactile quality to the pieces. I wonder what Margarete thought about as she made these, and how she felt holding the cup and saucer in her hands. I love the way the handles are formed from spheres, like bubbles rising to the surface. It’s so playful! These bulbous, protruding shapes remind me of Surrealist sculpture, like something by Jean Arp. With their geometric forms, these cups and saucers also speak to the Bauhaus aesthetic, where artists and designers sought to integrate art, craft, and technology. The Bauhaus was shut down by the Nazis, and Margarete's own workshop was seized a few years later. Despite these hardships, she kept making art. This is what artists do—we keep the conversation going across time, inspiring each other to create.