Dinner plate

Designer: Frank Lloyd Wright

1962–66 (designed c.1922)

Porcelain, enamels

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Even Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School designs--such as the Avery Coonley Playhouse--included playful circles as a counterpoint to the rectilinearity of his architecture. Wright's largest commission was the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, for which he created, along with furniture carpets, and silver, a signature dinnerware service for informal dining in the Cabaret Room by the many international guests. The design of colorful overlapping circles was so modern in its simplicity and asymmetricality, it was used, with modifications, by the hotel for many years. Shortly before the demise of the hotel, Noritake, the top porcealin firm in Jap