design deja vous: adler-esque banks at pot barn kids
Flipping through the new Pottery Barn Kids catalog yesterday, we were struck by a small photo of these nursery piggy banks. They’re super cute, glazed ceramic banks in the form of an elephant or a giraffe.
Immediately they reminded us of similar ones from Jonathan Adler’s menagerie.
While Adler’s are handcrafted stoneware with a much more distinctive design, Pot Barn’s versions are charming with their rounded corners. And for only $19 instead of nearly $70, more of a whim than an investment. Which would you buy?
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Adler’s are not piggy banks, so they’d be completely different purchases.
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
speaking of adler, I was surprised to see Barnes and Noble selling his pottery, I had no idea.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
Adler’s elephant IS a piggy bank but not the giraffe. Maybe it’s just me but I think the Pottery Barn animals are kinda creepy looking.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
Get thee to jonathanadler.com now! There is a sale and some of these (again not banks) are on sale. I picked up the horse and giraffe.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
I like the elephants, I would take either one. But I think I would want one with a function such as the piggy bank.
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
They are both darling. The pratical side of me says choose the cheaper one.
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
“Adler’s are not piggy banks, so they’d be completely different purchases.”
isn’t it fun that the cheeper ones also store your pennies and give you money back down the road
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I actually prefer the Pottery Barn ones. They’re rounded and softer looking, and I like the smoother texture. And shinier. Cuter for a kid, as well, which is the aim of the store, and not the aim of Mr. Adler (I think).
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:39 am
[...] we wrote about a striking similarity between Pottery Barn’s new nursery banks and Jonathan Adler’s ceramic sculptures. Well, Leah H. has found what could be [...]
January 4th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Once I was struck by the similarity between a red Corvete and a red Lada. Man, they both had 4 weels, seats, windows.. Damn!! They were BASICALLY IDENTICAL!!!!
January 6th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I’ve been struck by Adler’s Bjorn Wiinblad inspired work. Especially Adler’s Muse and Uptopia collections.
The blog entry linked below, which I found by googling, shows some of Wiinblad’s work. I’ve been a fan of his for many years and am actually happy to see people’s interest in his work increasing recently.
http://themoldydoily.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/06/mr_whimsy_rip.html
If you’re interested in acquiring some of his ceramics or posters, I’d suggest going to Ebay or for the posters, to the Dansk Plakatmuseum. The posters are great for a kid’s room or for the living room of big kids like me.
http://www.shop.plakatmuseum.dk/default.php?cPath=24&sessionid=aa26e917ee22b284fbc8ef891acf072b
January 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I would own Adler’s work over Pottery Barn because I’d like to see Jonathan Adler grow old in this business and enjoy his success — I almost feel like he’s human, one of us, there’s a face and a voice behind his work that I appreciate. I have no clue who runs the show over at PB and although I will continue to shop them from time to time, I usually go to smaller companies or independent artists to find what I need first.