The very pattern of “Repeat: Dots,” the fabric she designed for Maharam, doesn’t so much speak

Kasese Sheep Chair, 1999, carbon fiber and handmade felt.

of her design principles as scream them out. The distinct dots and circles were inspired by the hole punches in the jacquard cards that tell the machines which pattern to weave. And some of the bolts even have the card patterns silkscreened along the edge. The repeats themselves are pure Jongerius: They repeat so infrequently that each bolt looks custom-made.

Form and function aside, it is Jongerius’ sense of aesthetic fun that fascinates. One can’t help but be amused by her whimsical series “Nymphenburg Sketches,” low porcelain bowls that have statues of birds, rabbits and other creatures plopped down in the middle of the pattern as a surprise for those who clear their plates, and by “Crystal Candleholder,” a glass piece that looks like a stack of dinner plates that is just waiting to be washed.

Her other projects, which include gallery and museum exhibitions, exude the same disarming charm. In “Bed in Business,” part of her “My Soft Office” installation at MoMA’s 2001 exhibition “Workspheres,” a computer screen embedded at the foot and a keyboard and mouse incorporated in textiles create a high-tech working space that wouldn’t allow even the laziest worker to sleep on the job.

Suffice it to say that the power of Jongerius’ art lies in the very fact that it’s not meant to be art. Neither is a Delft bowl, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be. Just ask Jongerius, who designed one bowl with the traditional Dutch blue design blithely placed on the inside, where only the user can see it, and then only when it is empty.

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Nancy A. Ruhling is a New York City–based freelance writer who reports on art and design.