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Timberlake's top-selling Wild Manners tableware line. (Photo by Roberto Carra; courtesy of A-1 Productions) |
| A self described cynic, Timberlake says the impetus for her designs
often comes from hating something so much she feels responsiblity
to correct it. by Diana Friedman In one of Jane Timberlake's favorite designs, a bold blue line separates a drinking glass into the realms of the optimist and the pessimist--half empty versus half full. It's an appropriate metaphor for the career of the San Francisco artist and designer who founded the A-1 Product Co. Timberlake's top-selling Wild Manners tableware line, which she designed in college as her senior project, almost kept her from graduating. The assignment was to create a five-piece place setting, and while most of the class used shape and color to define their objects, Timberlake used words. Not even words, exactly, but more like instructions: platters are labeled with descriptions that indicate the correct side from which to serve, teacups offer notes on sipping etiquette, plates specify where to place utensils, and linen napkins are decorated with diagrams that are cheat sheets for table settings. "The teacher hated my idea," Timberlake says, "but I really liked it. And that was what was most important to me at the time." A self-described cynic, Timberlake says the impetus for her designs often comes from hating something so much she feels a responsibility to correct it. "I take ready-made, existing forms and design a second layer," she says. "I used to get really frustrated when a pillow would slide out of the pillowcase, so my Head Case pillows solve this with a seamed flap and a button closure that perfectly position the pillow." And, of course, each pillow is decorated with excerpts of Freudian dream analyses. The inspiration for much of her collection--both forms and words--is drawn from the 1950s, a time when Timberlake says information was effectively designed and presented in a straightforward, sober way. "Take a Boy Scout manual: It's truly convincing that if you follow the guidelines it sets out, you'll become a man," she says. "It's the same idea with my work. If you follow the plate's instructions, you'll have good manners." And if you don't, she concedes, at least you'll know which rules to work around. |
Keywords:
Jane Timberlake, home furnishings, metaphor
