Kibbutz designs
Filed under: design, education, General, History and Culture, Israeliness
The invite
Looks like their poster is based on this kibbutz oldie
Which is why I’m always drawn to attend their design school graduate student exhibit, this year exhibiting bags and accessories. The Kibbutzim Seminar college is not Israel’s largest design school, not competing with Shenkar or Bezalel. But there’s always something about the school’s history, it’s connection to nature and to the country’s earliest roots that comes through in the student projects and themes. This year there will be accessories based on individual, communal and cultural wear. Using intricate hand-knitting, uniform design, leather and other natural materials, the students looked to expand the borders of clothing, looking to change and modernize approaches.
You can check out what they came up on the Kibbutzim College campus, starting July 7. The address is Rechov Shoshana Parsitz 3, Arts Campus.
Nostalgia Sunday – And then there was IKEA…
Filed under: Business, design, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
The tragedy of yesterday’s IKEA fire is compounded by the fact that it leaves us, the Israeli furniture-buying public, exposed to the elements of bad taste that previously dominated the local furniture scene. And when I say bad taste, I am being kind. I should really say “horribly bad taste”.
Who among us, on their first visit to Israel in the 60s and 70s — and even well into the 80s — was not impressed by the Scandinavian-style furniture that decorated many a living room? Except, it turns out that Danish modern wasn’t the people’s actual choice. It was the style foisted upon them by Socialism, in all its practicality.
Because most of the new country’s residents came to it with the shirt on their backs — quite literally in many cases — there was a need for functional and affordable furniture. This was manufactured by kibbutz industries like Shomrat HaZorea which was once the watchword in teak dining room / living room sets. In the late 80s, such items were dumped on the street to be collected by the local alte zachen rag n’ bone men. (You can now find those same pieces in high-end Tel Aviv boutiques selling refurbished mid-century modern).
In their stead: the black, red and chrome “Hi-Tec” look for the hipsters, along with futons for the crunchy granola set. (I had both).
Meanwhile the older generation finally fulfilled their desires for real antiques by purchasing fake ones. Really bad fake ones, the most obnoxious one being the “vitrina”, a glass-fronted cabinet for storing knick-knacks, bric-a-brac and other tschockes collected on the trips abroad that Israel’s middle class was finally able to afford.
It was a classic case, to paraphrase Tom Wolfe’s From Our House To Bauhaus, of the intelligentsia designing simple, clean-lined and functional workers residences only to discover that the actual inhabitants would immediately cover the walls with flocked velvet wallpaper, hang gold framed pictures of teary-eyed children, put plastic roses in pink glass vases on top of lace doilies and in general decorate with other commonly accepted signifiers of wealth.
But never, I must point out, at the expense of comfort! Some years ago, when I was on a journalists’ junket to the Natuzzi furniture factory in Italy (call it my Italian couch trip) one of the executives asked our group why it was that they always received orders from their Israeli distributor for a certain kind of chair; it wasn’t popular in any other country.
“What kind of chair is it?” I asked, already knowing the answer. He showed us a picture of a television recliner.
That’s right. Israelis love their La-Z-Boys, American Comforts and any other chair that lets you lay back, put your feet up after a long day and watch TV en famille. In fact, it’s better if you have two. Israelis also see nothing wrong with white plastic stackable Keter chairs in the dining room or the office (a good idea that somehow went wrong in the aesthetics department). Your ultimate kiddie bed? The “sapat noar” or youth sofa: bed by night, couch by day (if you can convince your kids to ever straighten up their beds). The ultimate adult bed? A double bed split in two, each with its own adjustable mattress and separate controllers — all the better to watch TV with.
In the 90s, knock-down DIY was already infiltrating Israel but you couldn’t get your hands on it. (My friend Debbie actually took the IKEA catalogue to a carpenter and had him build a bookshelf according to the picture on the cover). More outrageous was going shopping in areas known to have low-priced furniture like Tel Aviv’s Herzl Street, picking out something that had clearly come from a flat-pak and having to pay top dollar — or shekel — all the while having one’s ire placated with “Giveret, zeh firma”, which means something like “Lady, this comes from a very fine quality manufacturer”. If I could have afforded fine quality, would I be shopping on Herzl Street?
No, I would have been at Tollman’s, I-D Design, Castiel or the local outlet of Habitat. Because fine furniture was also coming in, sold to the petit bourgeoisie by other members of the petit bourgeoisie. It was pricey and their importers wanted to keep it that way. Which is why they tried sway public opinion away from IKEA by giving interviews praising themselves and denigrating quality of the Swedish company’s wares.
And weren’t they surprised when IKEA finally opened its doors and didn’t fail. Israelis became adept at wielding the Allen wrench, assembling Billys, Rakkes and Malms, redoing their rooms and refinishing their kitchens. Because IKEA is the Bauhaus ideal incarnate: reasonably priced, nice-looking, well-designed, functional goods for the working middle-class that can be used and then, when the time comes, easily dispensed with and replaced by new ones.
Thank the good heavens that the smear campaign launched against IKEA by the Israel Furniture Industries Association also didn’t succeed. A second IKEA branch opened last year in Rishon Lezion (and you can’t convince me there isn’t a connection between the repeated attempts to block Rishon’s municipality from zoning the store and the location of the Israel Furniture Center, the IFIA’s ill-appointed so-called showcase in the Rishon Lezion western industrial zone).
So we’ll be Rishon-bound for the next six months to a year, which is how long it will take ’til the Netanya store reopens and all will be right in the world.
A Green Fashion Event Green Inspired by the Sea of Galilee
Filed under: Environment, Pop Culture
Israeli fashion show attempts to go “au naturale” with a natural-landmark-themed garment contest.
Fashion and the natural world don’t always go hand in hand (unless you’re lucky enough to come across some whimsical banana-shaped pumps by designers such as Kobi Levi). Or believe that the evil eye can be warded off by wearing a hand-made hamsa bracelet.
Usually haute couture is the anti-natural, with silhouettes that combat the shapes that we were born with and materials (such as fur) that require the destruction of something natural. Yet in an attempt to come up with a national garment for Israelis, fashion designers decided to center their inspiration on the natural. Namely, on Israel’s only fresh water lake, the Sea of Galilee which is now severely depleted.
Displayed in a garment design contest/fashion show in Tiberias (a city that is located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee) during the last few days of Sukkot, a recent Jewish holiday, the designers demonstrated that the natural is a powerful source of inspiration. The designers were also calling attention to the fact that the lake is in serious trouble in need of a serious makeover.
The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest fresh water reservoir and is a major source for Israeli water consumption. The water levels have steadily declined over recent years, due to years of drought, and now the levels are so low that there is danger that the lake may become salt water.
To go one step further: We also know that designers love having flowers delivered to the stage –– a huge thing on American runways. For future events let’s hope the organizers are inspired to order flowers not grown with excessive water and chemicals. Maybe wild desert flowers from Israel – ones that aren’t protected?
Liraz Rubin, one of the fashion designers whose work was displayed in the show, said that “my design is inspired by the lake, where the fish want to live but the water is getting scarce and the lake is sad. You can see in the design itself that the fishermen can hardly find any fish. It’s a cry to save the Sea of Galilee and its fish.”
For some of the judges, though, the focus was more on fashion and less on conservation. Yuval Kaspin, an Israeli celebrity designer and one of the judges, said that “in some of the designs the connection between the Sea and the garment was definitely discernible. The designs which caught our attention the most were those that indeed reminded us of the Sea, but did not ‘over-chew’ the concept for us.”
Read more about green fashion:
“New Dress A Day” Blog Takes Consumerism Out of the Fresh Fashion Equation
Are Kobi Levi’s Tongue Shoes Fit for Dancing?
EcoGir Flaunts Its Recycled Polyester Suits During New York Fashion Week
(This post has been written by Karen Chernick, from Green Prophet) It is cross-posted there. And on Middle East Youth.
“72 Hour Urban Action” Takes Over Bat Yam, Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, Pop Culture
Teams have 72 hours to re-design an urban area in a pretty crumby satellite city in Israel. It’s guerilla urban architecture.
We’ve all had the same thought: it’s been built, we’re stuck with it. This ugly urban mess we have created is here to stay and there’s nothing we can do about it; may as well put up our feet, grab a lager, and watch re-runs of “The Days of Our Lives” to wile away the misery. Others challenge that notion, and show the rest of us couch-potatoes that actually we have an extraordinary capacity for innovation and have the necessary power to reverse our unsustainable trends. And not only can we fix our mistakes during this lifetime (instead of leaving it for our kids to deal with), we can make serious headway over a weekend. They started with the 72 Hour Urban Action Program in Israel’s less-than-glamorous Bat Yam. Read more
Foto Friday – Design Museum Holon
Filed under: Art, design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Movies, Pop Culture
Holon , the city on the dunes, has traditionally been a sleepy satellite and antithesis of Tel Aviv. So much so, in fact, that Holon’s first mayor, Dr. Haim Kugel, envisioned it as a place where the working man would drink a cup of tea on his balcony before retiring to bed at 9:30. No discos, night clubs or decadent “City That Never Stops” frippery for Kugel’s Holon.
Oh well, Haim, times change. Over the years, Holon has positioned itself as Israel’s center for niche museums, providing a home not only to the Egged Bus Museum and Israel Children’s Museum but also to the Mediatheque, a cultural centre that includes the National Cartoon Museum, repertory theater, cinematheque, a unique materials library and public library and the Israel Design Center.
And next week, on January 31st 2010, the Design Center inaugurates its new award-winning building by Ron Arad Architects, thus thwarting Kugel’s dream forever.
Design Museum Holon does fulfill the dream of its founders, Holon’s Mayor, Motti Sasson and Managing Director, Hana Hertsman who term it “the pinnacle of a sixteen-year urban regeneration programme, a process which is transforming the city of Holon, central Israel, into a global epicenter for culture and education.” A series of videos about their vision is available here.
That vision is more than matched by the building, a sexy ribbon of weathered steel, graduated in tone, that winds its way around a large central plaze, flanked by the Mediatheque.
The founders wanted Arad to create an iconic building that would provide visitors with an immersive design environment, and the Design Museum is Arad’s first architectural project of this scale. As he explains it, “Holon is a city which is re-inventing itself culturally, with ambitious plans that are investing a lot into culture. The concept of this museum in the Middle Eastern sun is just one instance.”
“Every project is unique; each one invites a different response. When we started working on Design Museum Holon, it was like a white canvas, things developed and a direction was formed. We created a hierarchy of outdoor spaces so you walk in under the building into a semi-covered yard, where you have a choice to take the air-conditioned route or one exposed to the elements. The building envelope is not just a pretty space; it’s also a structure.”
An interview with Arad about the museum can be found here:
The Design Museum’s annual program will showcase site-specific exhibitions by invited international curators as well as travelling exhibitions. A historical collection of Israeli design is also being created and the museum’s permanent collection will be unveiled in five to seven years. The first exhibition opens on March 4th 2010. More details on www.dmh.org.il. Photos courtesy of Design Museum Holon’s Facebook page – become a fan today!
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