E D I TO R I A L
As appeared in October 2001 HOMEWORLD BUSINESS

"...By Sue Zipkin, Tabletop Designer Makes A Name For Herself"
by Kristen Matejka

 

As a dinnerware designer, Sue Zipkin has never been the traditional fruit-and-flower-pattern type. One look at her intricate and vibrant dinnerware designs, now carried by Sango, clearly demonstrates this. The rich, saturated colors and unconventional designs have become her trademark.

Zipkin has had a fairly long journey but it is finally at the point where everything has come together for her as an artist. As a contracted licensor with Sango, she finally has a job where she said she is appreciated and recognized for the work she does.

Zipkin's name appears on her dinnerware designs and she is entitled to a royalty. For years, working as an in-house artist, this had been something she had
fought for. Drawing seriously since the age of five, the School of Visual Arts graduate thought she would be a fantasy illustrator, drawing monsters and imaginary creatures the rest of her life. The highly competitive "monster and creature drawing market" turned out to be not quite as viable as Zipkin had hoped, so she went in a more conventional direction, designing hotel bath product labeling.

"For years, my sister would say I should stop drawing weird stuff and do flowers or something," Zipkin said. "I felt like that was boring, you could take a picture of flowers; I liked doing my own thing." That's why when she got her first job as an in-house designer with a dinnerware company, she felt trapped. "All they wanted me to do was draw fruit and flower patterns," she said. Zipkin took a chance. She resigned and decided she was going to work freelance. "It was kind of scary; I couldnąt believe I was going to do this with no job," she said.

She sold some textile designs and then decided to create her own portfolio of dinnerware designs. Most of the patterns were, as Zipkin described them, unusual, exotic, interesting. One pattern had lions in it, others had complex patterns and textures. They weren't quite mainstream. Then she found Sakura, then an up and coming dinnerware company with a penchant for the unusual.

"I told them that I was very flexible with different looks and styles; there were some patterns in my portfolio they loved," Zipkin said. She worked out a contract with Sakura where she supplied a certain number of patterns per month, but she was not an in-house artist. With Sakura she produced a number of hits: Malaga, Terrain, Rain Forest,Roadside, Magic Jungle.

Zipkin said she wanted more though. She wanted to be a designer name. She wanted to grow and expand her name into other product areas, and she wanted to get royalties on her proprietary designs.

So again, she went out and sold herself. She went to a number of different Dinnerware companies and told them what she wanted. "I was very confident, I had a lot of hits under my belt," she said. Then she found Sango and everything just clicked. "They said they had been watching my designs and they were thrilled; they were also totally understanding about what I wanted to do," she said.

With new designs like Sweet Shoppe by Sue Zipkin and Potpourri by Sue Zipkin, Sango and Zipkin have found success together. Zipkin has found an entirely new signature style that combines minutely detailed patterns on bright pastel water color-like backgrounds. The placement Sango has received speaks for itself with many of the major department stores and specialty stores featuring the mix and match assortment prominently. "It's been wonderful; Sue really has a unique eye for design," said Lance Wade, executive vp of Sango.
 
"The consumer has really responded to the designs; they are easy, comfortable and whimsical." Sango is also planning to introduce a new pattern, Coffee Shoppe by Sue Zipkin, that evolves the brightly colored Sweet Shoppe look into a more neutral color palette.

"It's her hand, but different," Wade said. New hand-painted, boxed Sweet Shoppe Christmas accessories will also be shown to coordinate with the original Sweet Shoppe pattern.

Sango features dozens of accessories with Zipkin's popular dinnerware designs and now the artist has also been able expand into other product areas. Through licensing agreements with Precidio, her designs are on melamine dinnerware. Through Santa Barbara , her designs are on ceramic collectibles. Libbey produces the licensed glassware. And, she has agreements with at least a half-dozen other home companies for everything from textiles to memo boards.

The ambitious artist got what she wanted, but she still doesn't understand why it was such a long road. "It has been difficult; it's just very difficult to get a designer name on dinnerware; you really have to push for it," Zipkin said. "It's kind of sad because I really believe a designer name makes a product more valuable because it gives it a human touch."