Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman Design Their Own Love Story

Charles and Ray Eames, Robin and Lucienne Day, Massimo and Lella Vignelli: all couples who made a big mark on post-war Modern design. LA has also been home to another designing couple, Jerome and Evelyn Ackerman, two Detroit artists who opened a studio in West LA in the early 1950s, and forged a path in artful craft, applying Jerry’s entrepreneurial savvy and Evelyn’s fine artistry to ceramics, weaving, mosaics, wood-carving, metalwork and more. Now you can see some of the highlights of their partnership at the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) in a show called A Marriage of Craft and Design. On the next DnA, we’ll hear from the couple about the love that bound their life and work. And below, DnA’s Olga Khazan reviews the exhibit:

Before there was IKEA and other mass purveyors of affordable-yet-stylish home decor, there was Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman, the iconic duo behind a design style known as “California mid-century modernism.” The couple, who have been living and working together for more than 50 years, have produced everything from vibrant mosaics to playful tapestries. Last week, the Craft and Folk Art Museum opened an exhibit, aptly titled “A Marriage of Craft and Design,” featuring a wide array of the Ackermans’ work, and the Ackermans came out to celebrate.

To the sounds of singer/songwriter Daphne, on January 29 CAFAM patrons toasted the Ackerman’s long creative history, as well as the pair’s personal milestones: The exhibit opened on Jerome Ackerman’s 91st birthday, and Evelyn Ackerman had just celebrated her 87th birthday on January 12.

Tanya Aguiñiga. In a nod to the back-strap weaving technique Aguiniga learned in Chiapas, the exhibit consists of hundreds of strands of colored yarn strung from floor to ceiling and interspersed with “floating” woven patterns. In effect, it creates a maze of string for the viewer to get lost in, with some of Aguiniga’s funky woven furniture pieces placed at various points along the way.