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.
Nostalgia Sunday – eBay Within Reach
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
The big dinner table discussion in recent weeks has been, “When is eBay actually coming to Israel”? And while we still await the long-promised opening of Israel’s second IKEA like the coming of the Messiah (it is taking that long) it looks like eBay could make Neiman’s Nostalgic Notions on the Net a reality in the near future.
And about time, too. Last April, Ynet reported that eBay had launched a Hebrew-language interface. But even before that, as one might well imagine, enterprising Israelis were buying and selling second- (and first-) hand wares over sites like Yad 2 — and eBay as well. (For more on that, read blogger Dudu Cohen’s article or watch this Channel 10 news item from last year. Both only in Hebrew, unfortunately).
The question in all cases: how to receive remuneration in the absence of a full-service electronic payment and fund transfer system. In other words, how does one get paid (Illuminea’s Miriam Shwab wrote an excellent blog posting at the time) and even more significantly, how does one pay the Israeli tax authorities their share? And don’t think they aren’t wondering the exact same thing.
Last month came big news when PayPal announced it was launching Israeli operations… er… more or less. According to Globes, “Although eBay has a Hebrew-language site eBay Israel with product prices listed in both dollars and shekels, as well as a search function for popular items, Israeli buyers have only limited options for paying through PayPal. They have to open an account using an international credit card, but they cannot withdraw money accumulated in the account because PayPal has no agreement with Israeli commercial banks.” Again, this will likely be resolved at least by the time that IKEA in Rishon LeZion opens its doors.
All this is simply a preface to the mind-blowing notion that we Israelis will finally be able to unload our old crap to make way for new crap, just like everyone else in the western world! Imagine how great it will be to be able to buy and sell the following:
A limited edition Coca Cola bottle with Hebrew lettering and a Star of David on the neck.
A decorative metal bowl manufactured by the PalBell company, which operated in Tel Aviv from 1939 to 1956 and set the standard for kitschy Judaica from the Holy Land.
Sheet music featuring lovely Seventies songstress Ilanit… hmmm…wonder how much I can get for my copy!
Or this lacquer wall plate etched with a picture of an Israeli dancer. I’m pretty sure my Aunt Sarah had two of these hanging in her rec room.
And I can’t wait to unload the boatload I’ve got of these things!
Oh, there is no end to the fun we’ll have, once we open up our little eBay store in dot-C-O-dot-I-L-land. But seriously, for those who are sincerely motivated and interested in learning more about eBay in Israel, go to the eBay global site, and select “Israel” under the “Country” drop-down menu. There’s a User Group as well. Any number of Israeli companies have sprung up to give courses and sell books about how to make money on eBay but its probably best — and cheapest — to start with this series of YouTube videos, again in Hebrew only.
Nostalgia Sunday – Little Israel
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
Maybe it’s because cable TV has been running “Pleasantville”, or maybe it’s because I was going through a bunch of old stuff. Suddenly, I was seized with a desire to visit the Israel we once pictured in our mind’s eye…
(For full-sized version click here).
After school maybe do some shopping…
(For full-sized version click here).
Or go to the movies…
(For full-sized version click here).
And maybe even take a drive!
(For full-sized version click here).
Go ahead, don’t be shy! Print, cut out and glue your own Little Israel.
A lightbulb attraction
Filed under: Business, design, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Israeli advertising can be pretty weak on the creative front, which is surprising given the amazingly sharp minds that abound in all sorts of Sabras. Maybe it’s the pay?
But whoever came up with the latest Sylvania Israel lightbulb ad was truly struck by comic genius and a ‘lightbulb’ of a concept. I spotted it at a local lighting store, just behind the counter. It has a picture of the familiar-looking Oren Zarif, a ‘therapist of the subconscious’, with the quote, “Abuya, go over to Sylvania and the pain will pass.”
Zarif has fabulously cheesy advertising all over the Israeli press each week. Each ad features a picture of Zarif, always dressed in white with his straight black hair tucked behind his ears with and bolts of lightning in the background, followed by a series of pictures of Zarif with his ‘patients’, their thumbs up, proclaiming: “The surgery on my leg was cancelled!” — Zehava; “My chronic dizziness disappeared” — Aaron C.; “I was spared surgery on my gums” — Veronica B. And so on.
With eight clinics countrywide, Zarif is clearly doing something right, at least on the business front. He’s convinced that he inherited his powers from his Bukharan great-grandfather, enlightened Torah scholar Rabbi Pinhas Hacohen, writes Ruthie Blum in the Jerusalem Post.
All I know is, Sylvania definitely convinced me to buy their bulbs.
Foto Friday – To market, to market with Tamar Matsafi
Filed under: Art, Food, Foto Friday, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel
Passover is over and things are about to get back to normal, sort of. In the Israeli endless vacation reality, there’s still Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) to look forward to, after which a mild depression sets in as there won’t be another long vacation break till the High Holidays. Oh, except for August. We don’t work much in August.
The latter part of this week, though, was devoted to re-stocking the kitchen, post-Pesach. Photographer Tamar Matsafi took a jaunt to Jerusalem’s open market, Machane Yehuda, a refreshing alternative the the local supermarket.
First thing, buy new spices to replace the ones you threw out.
Photo: Tamar Matsafi
Photo: Tamar Matsafi
David had a nice write-up a few weeks ago about an unusual cooking competition held in the shuk between gourmet grannies.
Photo: Tamar Matsafi
An explanation of these dangerously delicious fried treats may be found here.
Photo: Tamar Matsafi
And check out Harry’s profile of Machane Yehuda’s resident shaman Uzi-Eli Chezi.
Photo: Tamar Matsafi
Our bags are full so home we go…
Photo: Tamar Matsafi
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