Nostalgia Sunday – Egged Bus
Filed under: design, General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
My car broke down irretrievably last year and, as a result, I have been taking the bus quite a bit. In-between cursing public transportation, cultivating nascent misanthropic tendencies, and swearing that next week I am absolutely buying a car — bank balance be damned — I also find time for nostalgic reverie. Or is that better termed a bad flashback? Let’s face it, today’s buses are far, far better than the non-air conditioned, bouncing, bulky tin boxes on wheels of yesteryear. My coccyx bone aches just thinking about it. Ouch.
Transportation cooperative Egged also remembers those days, (with more fondness than do I), and maintains a museum in Holon, the niche museum capital of Israel. The display is also online with a gallery of photos, posters, video clips (like this one of the first Egged tour of Sinai) and articles about Egged’s history. For example, this photo of a few of the drivers who joined the Egged cooperative in 1933.
And here’s the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv! No, not that one. This was located at 1 Rothschild Boulevard.
And then there was Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus design bus station that was Egged’s main base until the new bus station opened in 1993.
The classic 1970s Egged bus designed by British Leyland:
Here’s the 1980s upgrade, designed by Mercedes — introducing air-conditioning!
Egged’s bus for the new millennium. In a classic “greenwashing” move, Egged made a very big deal about how this model was environmentally friendly. Why? Because of the green paint? Oh well, at least they’re roomy and the air-conditioning works well.
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And now, introducing the new bus for 2009, the Saar-31. I bet the air conditioning is super-sonic. Ahhh…
As with all Egged buses, the Saar 31 is manufactured and assembled locally by the Haargaz company. The design of this bus, says Haargaz, is the most advanced of its kind. But what I like is their video clip about the history of Haargaz-constructed buses in Israel – to the tune of Born to Be Wild. So rock on… and leave the driving to us!
Bagir and Obama
Filed under: Business, coexistence, design, Environment, General, Politics, Technology
Is he wearing Ecogir?
Turns out that Bagir’s latest technological suit, ECOGIR, which is made from recycled plastic bottles and has been written about on this site, is manufactured at Metco, a tailored clothing factory in Port Said. And 50% of what Bagir manufactures in Port Said goes to the U.S. while the other half heads to the UK market. In the U.S., EcoGir is available at Sears stores and online at Sears.com, where it’s called the Covington Perfect Poly-Wool Blazer. 
According to Offer Gilboa, Bagir’s CEO, the company “is grateful to the Obama administration for showing support in this area and appreciate the new administration’s effort in the regional peace process. Bagir has demonstrated a working relationship can not only be possible, but also profitable and congenial.”
Bagir, like Delta Galil and Tefron, the two other Israeli textile companies that do business with their Jordanian and Egyptian neighbors, has been working with Egypt since the U.S. signed a historic trade partnership with both Egypt and Israel five years ago. The agreement created Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs) in Egypt and Jordan, which allow for duty-free export of certain Egyptian and Jordanian goods that contain Israeli inputs to the U.S.
The QIZs have created working relationships that continue despite war, disagreements and political machinations. Work continued this winter(see page 14), in spite of the fighting in Gaza, and during other periods of upheaval.
You figure that if people can get along well enough to make suits out of recycled bottles, they could figure out other methods of getting along.
Israeli Target
Head to your nearest Target to snatch up pieces from the latest homeware designer line, created by Israeli Dror Benshetrit, known as Dror for Target. The award-winning Benshetrit focused on high impact pieces for small spaces — probably due to his Sabra upbringing in a typical three-bedroom or smaller apartment. This collection will include bedding, accessories and stationery. The June 1 issue of People, for example, chose to focus on said accessories, such as his collapsible wall clock, a stackable bookcase and a paneled pillow that can be turned inside out to offer a fresh look.
The award-winning product designer told Kinetic Architecture that he began designing products during his army service.
I was working as an artist for my whole life, but during my mandatory military service in Israel I felt a separation between my inner constant desire to create, and the day to day tasks that had nothing to do with my artistic passion. I began to resolve this tension by solving problems around me in a creative way. Some of the solutions resulted in product design. I realized that there is a whole other level of art, which deals with practicality, and I was very fascinated by that notion. I started to seek knowledge about this, and slowly my main form of creativity, which was painting, evolved into three dimensional sculptures and objects.
You can’t see his Target designs just yet, as they’ll be in the stores and online on June 14. In the meantime, this is his award-winning cantilevered chair, which hangs on a wall when not in use.
What I like about Benshetrit is that he still identifies himself as Israeli; and his designs? Cool and now affordable at Target. Now if I could only get someone to shlep them in their suitcase for me from the States…
American Apparel in the holy city
The very trendy American Apparel clothing company has arrived in Jerusalem, which must mean something for our very unhip city. The Los Angeles-based company had actually set up shop on Rivlin Street in Nachalat Shiva several months back (after opening a couple of years ago on Dizengoff in Tel Aviv), but they’ve now emerged with an ad campaign that is even being placed in the extremely untrendy In Jerusalem section of the Post.
Just to familiarize readers with American Apparel: Listed on the AMEX exchange, AA is the largest clothing manufacturer in the U.S., a vertically-integrated clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer that also performs its own design, advertising, and marketing, and calls itself “sweatshop free” for its number of progressive policies including promoting immigrant rights and labor policies. It was founded and is owned by Dov Charney, who’s originally from Canada, is Jewish, and is the nephew of renowned architect Moshe Safdie.
This is the company that was sued by funnyman Woody Allen last year for using an image parodying him as a rabbi in their ad campaign. Allen has agreed to a $5 million settlement; American Apparel thinks the amount is “outrageous.”
But back to Jerusalem. According to Daily Update, the American Apparel blog, “AA Jerusalem is cool too,” writes Lindsay.
People who know, know that in many ways Jerusalem is far more twisted and fun than Tel Aviv. Many visiting AA staff were in fact astonished at just how cool and fun Jerusalem actually is and many plans to spend the day in Jerusalem and then quickly return to Tel Aviv at night were dashed as a result.
This reality is reflected in the staff at the AA store in Jerusalem’s trendy Nachalat Shiva neighborhood. For instance, there’s Zohar Shafir aka Nico teen, AA salesperson by day, electro-tinged pop songstress by night. Her latest 7 song EP, Two Trick Pony “puts emphasis on highly catchy tunes and strong vocals and vocal harmonies, using home recording methods with toy synthesizers.”
I myself haven’t spent much time in the Jerusalem AA, seeing as a double stroller wasn’t easily maneuvered through the store. Then again, I’m not sure that’s a problem for these young hipster dipsters.
Tee-art
At one time, a cool Israeli tee-shirt meant heading to Lord Kitsch to select one with the Coca-Cola, Bazooka or a favorite sports team emblem emblazoned in Hebrew across the front, with one’s name in Hebrew ironed on across the back. Or, for the truly daring, a pyramid of Rashi-like script that included more profane language. (Not something this good yeshiva girl ever thought about buying.)
But as with so many other things, those days are long gone, replaced by a much cooler, hipper collection of tee-shirts made, seemingly, by primarily young guys who are also opening boutique tee-shirt stores across the nation. That collection came together on Friday and Saturday at Jerusalem’s HaMaabada space, when the annual T:Market peddled its wide collection of t-shirt makers and their friends — young clothing and jewelry designers — from far and wide. That is, not just from Jerusalem, as this is a countrywide affair.
The crowd was young, the shirts were mostly clever and funny and the mood was very upbeat, possibly due to the weekend timing and centrally-located bar selling beer and mixed drinks, even though it was only 11:00 am.
But what’s great about this new generation of tees and tee-makers is that their slogans are spot-on and funny, poking fun at a whole range of Israeli cultural idioms, from the army (think desk clerks) and the government to food penchants (think hummus, pickles and tomatoes), the Muppets (what is it about Israelis and the Muppet Show?), and a strong bent toward retro designs, which for this crowd means cassette tapes and Pac-Man.
The prices were decent, about NIS 50 and up per tee, not including the NIS 10 entrance fee, although that’s somewhat steep for the student crowd, as I was reminded by one of my younger friends. And as with any kind of Israeli gathering, while the mood was hip and carefree or sought to be, people with baby carriages were welcome and more than one stall operator offered to hold one or both of my boys while I tried on shirts.
So if you missed the Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem T:Markets, never fear. There’s another one coming up in Beersheva on May 20-21. Start planning now…
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