Santa came early to a number of Milwaukee media people with the arrival of a sturdy box marked "Crate & Barrel." It contains a number of items from the Chicago chain's most recent catalogue, which runs heavy to depictions of an endearing character called "
Juggling Snowman."
I have two plates and mugs which are perfect to serve the dozen giant chocolate marshmallows (not just for Easter anymore) and the instant "double chocolate cocoa" I received in a matching Juggling Snowman-decorated tin. I've decided the snowman might even get a reprieve from the imprisonment seasonal goodies are usually subject to for 11 months of the year.
In part this is due to the quality of the goods (I'm speaking here of the durable ones; the marshmallows and cocoa, also high quality, will be gone in days.)
The cups and plates are of an exceptionally white porcelain, the better to set off the snowman from his red and white striped scarf, six-lumps-of-coal mouth and triangular orange nose. They are made for Crate & Barrel in Bangladesh.
I was unaware of the quality of Bengali porcelain and the robust trade in such goods until these attractive items were sent to me. Sure enough, porcelain wares rank just behind jute, leather, tea and frozen fish as exports from the Asian nation.
Another reason Juggling Snowman has legs (he doesn't really, I'm using this as a phrase to denote staying power) is that among the things he juggles is the fine line between whimsy and kitsch.
In this case his art lands well on the side of whimsy, thanks in part to his rigorously geometric design. Yep, the little feller is compelling, and it is not just because he is all circles and angles, but because he has no eyes! He
has eyes, of course, you must believe, but you can't see them because the snowman is looking straight up at his juggling snowballs, which seem just about to get out of hand entirely. He has his eyes on the prize in the skies.
It hadn't ever occurred to me that Juggling Snowmen had entered the iconography of this holiday season, but such is the case, with most Juggling Snowmen looking decidedly kitsch, made of cheapish materials and not nearly with the eclat that my snowman will bring to my table long past his melt date.
--Michael Horne
