Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman: California Mid-Century Designers

Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman: California Mid-Century Designers is a 256-page tribute to the influential artist-couple whose vibrant, handcrafted works helped shape the visual language of postwar California design. Featuring over 200 images—many never before published—this expanded volume, authored by their daughter Laura Ackerman-Shaw, shifts focus from biography to legacy, tracing the Ackermans’ impact through Jenev Design Studio, ERA Industries, and their celebrated presence in the California Design exhibitions from 1954 to 1976. With a modernist approach to ceramics, textiles, mosaics, and wood carving, they brought high design to a wider audience, infusing everyday objects with color, texture, and soul. Enriched by newly uncovered archival material and fresh scholarship, this edition is essential reading for collectors, curators, and anyone drawn to the enduring appeal of California mid-century design.