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by Hannelore Sudermann •
photography by Chris Anderson
A HANDCRAFTED STERLING SILVER TEA SET, its long rectangular
surfaces modern in design, gleams from its perch on a bookshelf in
an apartment high above Seattle, the home of the man who designed
it.
The simple geometry of the set’s four serving pieces and tray
belies the years of effort that went into its creation.
The same is true of another of architect Phillip Jacobson’s
projects— much larger in scale than the tea set—the emerald-hued,
glass-encased Washington State Convention and Trade Center just
a few blocks east of the apartment.
The retired director of design at TRA Architecture and
Engineering in Seattle, Jacobson has had a hand in crafting close
to 35 years’ worth of Pacific Northwest structures. His influence
can be seen in the King County Aquatics Center, the subway stations
of the downtown Seattle Metro project, the 1982 renovation of
Wegner Hall at Washington State University, and the biological
science building at the University of Washington, where he was on
the faculty from 1962 until 2000.
But all those projects were long-term endeavors. He found more
immediate outlets for his creative urges by designing furniture,
light fixtures, jewelry, dishware—and tea sets. “Designers get
frustrated when they develop an idea and they don’t see it
until six or seven or, in one project, 11 years later,” he says.
“These other projects were realized more quickly, a kind of instant
gratification.”
Last fall Jacobson’s small pieces were exhibited at the Nordic
Heritage Museum in Ballard. The show coincided with the release of
Elegant Explorations, a book about the more intimate realm
of Jacobson’s design life. In October, we met at the museum to look
at some of the architect’s jewelry, fixtures, and furniture,
and to talk about how, in creating them, he could play and explore
with form and materials.
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