For the home

July 10, 2009 - 10:40 AM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Business, design, General, Israeliness

hafatzim When you live in the Middle East, even the uber-Westernized version that is Israel in 2009, you need some touches of ‘real’ civilization now and then. And when you live in Jerusalem, which, it must be said, can be somewhat provincial compared to the more cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, you’re always grateful for the pockets of fine living, wherever they may be found.

One of those pockets rests at the corner of Ben Shetach and Hasoreg streets in downtown Jerusalem, sandwiched between Jaffa Road and Nahalat Shiva. Sitting catty-corner from one another are Hafatzim, an Israeli company that produces and markets home accessories and Harmony, a high-end home furnishings store. Hafatzim, which means both ‘objects’ and ‘wishes’, offers a line of home accessories created for the line of stores in Israel, Egypt, Italy, southern France, India and Vietnam, and imports high quality crafted products from England, the Czech Republic, Albania and Ecuador.

Harmony, just across the street, offers European furnishings, both sleekly modern and comfortably contemporary, as well as a large selection of home accessories and a full level of infant and toddler furnishings and toys. This is the place to pick out an elegantly designed Natuzzi couch, Provencal style dishes or clever Luka stickers for the walls of your home. Basically, it’s all the things that you wish you didn’t need or desire, but do want, all sleekly clever or plushly European. Hafatzim, on the other hand, is more colonial India, taking, if you will, the more positive aspects of colonialism, such as teak furnishings and pure cotton tableclothes that evoke more genteel times.

There is much that is expensive in these stores, but, they both have sales, and often. Hafatzim also offers a newsletter that informs interested customers about upcoming sales, as well as a gift registry and other treats. Hafatzim products are sold at the Tel Aviv store in the neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, in Rehovot, in Jerusalem and on-line. The stores’ wares are also sold wholesale to hotels, stores and retail chains, restaurants and other business establishments at special rates. Harmony’s sales are less publicized, but it always pays to ask about a certain piece of furniture that’s caught your eye, cuz you never know when they have something discounted in that same line. And Harmony recently opened an outdoor furnishings store just across the street, and just in time for summer living.

Happy shopping.

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Tags: Hafatzim, Harmony, home accessories, interior design, jerusalem

Wall designs

March 1, 2009 - 12:24 PM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General

Back in October, when I thought I’d be carrying my twin boys to term, I embarked on a nesting project to set up their room, turning what is our ‘sealed room’ a.k.a guestroom into the boys’ room. For an Ashkenazi Jew who doesn’t buy baby items before they arrive, lest we bring the evil eye to rest upon us, that meant taking the chance of having the room painted and emptying out parts of the closet.

luka I clearly wasn’t going to be creating a nursery, but I did want to have a baby-like atmosphere in there. So with a pleasing apple green shade on the walls, I started looking for some other kind of wall decoration and found Studio Luka, an Israeli design firm that creates surface graphics for decorating walls and furniture. They were selling their tubes of decals at Harmony, a lovely Jerusalem home furnishings store (Rechov Hasoreg, downtown), but their entire selection is also available on-line (prices listed in dollars).

What’s great about the Luka designs is that they’re smart, sharp and not your typical baby look, although they do offer trains, planes and flowers, just from a more modern, clean perspective. Btw, you can also use Luka decals in older kids’ and grownup bedrooms, as well as any other living space. You can also get the decals in an array of colors, another helpful detail. The one problem is in the actual application, because the decals are often too sticky — and can take paint off the wall — or not sticky enough. Once they’re up, however, they look great.

And I think the boys are starting to look at the sheep on their wall.

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