| iHome | Irit Goldberg | White Zone |
| It looks like Irit Goldberg has a master degree in white design. I think she should start her own design course and I’ll be the first to sign up. Her wrinkled plates and laced trays have a special place in my heart and I know that one of these days they will have a special place on my dinning table… All I need to do is figure out the dinner table issue first ;) {A DesignBreak by Natasha Haimovich} {Photos by Yossi Salis} www.i-home.co.il |
| One On One Break | Michal Farago | Ceramic Mind |
| I’ve been looking for a way to get in touch with the ceramist behind the Handy Nut for quite some time with no luck, but then… I got an email from Michal Farago… the lady herself (I’m sure you guessed it by now) and I couldn’t be happier! Immediately I seized the moment and made her take part in my One On One Break ;) Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. BTW, you get a sneak peek at Michal’s graduation project! You will also get to see the final creation this summer. Stay tuned. You can get in touch with Michal here: kiltbanana {at} gmail {dot} com |
| I’d love to hear about you, your journey, how it all began. | |
| My relationship with the art\design world had never begun, it was always there. There wasn’t any certain point where I said to myself ‘this is it’, it was always clear to me that that is what I will do, It didn’t feel like I had any choice. I think that one of my major decisions had to be going to study at the ceramic design department. I was actually really into fashion and while making my portfolio for Bezalel I came across this material and I just felt for it. I feel my journey is still at it’s beginning. I’m at my final year at the Bezalel academy, and my final project feels to me like the first big step of this journey. | MichalFarago |
| Can you describe your work process for me? | |
| My process is pretty hectic, after deciding on the main concept of the project, I usually go through a number of sleepless nights in which I start researching, develop my idea and usually doing more writing and less sketching. I start model making in an early stage, I prefer doing mock ups over sketching; it gives me more information and gets the process going. | MichalFarago |
| Which materials do you work with? | |
| As you can guess, I’m really into ceramics. Ceramics is one word for many materials, it gives you endless possibilities and being the technology freak that I am, I really have lots of fun with it. I do work with other materials like wood, plastic, metals and so on. | MichalFarago |
| What is the most unusual piece you have ever designed? | |
| Well, the most unusual piece I did is definitely what I’m working on now, my final project. I’m working on sponge structured porcelain bodies. The sponge modeling gives me a chance to create a new esthetic for porcelain and it gives me so much freedom, shape wise. | MichalFarago |
| Can you share a glimpse into your graduation project? | |
| I wish I could ;) My graduation project is in the making. All I can say is that it’s going to be very innovative by it’s tactility and it will be very surprising in its form, especially for porcelain objects. You are invited to come and see it on the next Bezalel graduate exhibition. | MichalFarago |
| What’s next? What is your dream? | |
| my dream is to find a cooperative multidisciplinary studio with a team of designers that will fertilize, teach and inspire each other but will work separately. Other than that I’d like to go on studying and get a master’s degree. | MichalFarago |
| I’m curious to know where does your inspiration come from? | |
| My inspiration comes from many sources. Sometimes I get my inspiration from the workshop process or the material itself, I’m trying to stretch the limits of it and still make it work. Other times I get it from my wonderful homeboys at studio blitzkrieg. | MichalFarago |
| Can you tell me which designers inspire you? | |
| At the moment I’m taken by Jaime Hayon’s work, his works for Lladró are stunning. Also I’m a big fan of dutch designer Marije Vogelzang. I find her work fun, exciting, experimental and bold. Another one of my favorites is Maarten Baas, his smoke collection is great and his clay furniture collection is just fun. Another one is Hella Jongerius which needs no introduction. I could go on and on, but I guess I’ll finish with a couple local studios, Reddish – Design Studio which I love, it looks like they are having fun and I guess that’s what it’s all about. And another one is fashion designer Elinor Zilberman who’s better known as Evil I, her street wear collection is pretty sweet. | MichalFarago |
| What about some web sites and blogs that you visit regularly? | |
| I check in regularly to Designboom, Dezeen, Core77, MoCo Loco and Slipcast, which is a blog about ceramics. | MichalFarago |
| What is the best advice you’ve ever received? | |
| The best advice I ever got was “Anything’s possible”. I know it’s kind of cliché but if someone like Mr. Yehuda Koren says it toe me then it’s a whole different story. Yehuda was teaching the ceramic technology class at Bezalel, he is the most dedicated teacher I had ever had, always willing to help and always smiling. | MichalFarago |
| If you had an extra hour each day what would you do with it? | |
| Wax my legs, seriously. | MichalFarago |
| And finally, please do share something random or quirky about yourself! | |
| Well, as the small girl that I am, I have quite the muscles. I won an arm wrestling match against one of my adult male friends, whose name will be kept classified ;) I beat him 2 out of 3 times! | MichalFarago |
| Israelis@MilanDesignWeek | Iris Zohar | Onion. Not What You’d Expect |
| “Where does a vase end and a flower begin?” Each onion vase is a one-of-a kind solution that mirrors the variances occurring in nature. I wish I could have a sea of onion vases on my dining table… Well, First I need to have a dinning table ;) - You can read my previous posts about Iris’s magic hands right here. www.iriszohar.com |
| Ronit Baranga | Mouth To Mouth |
| Ronit Baranga moves me each time with her twisted mind ;) “By combining ceramic sculptures of body parts within, the still object is transformed from a passive, used object, to an active one with the ability to choose how to behave in an encountered situation: to feed or not, to shout, to stay or to escape. My works deal with emotional states and relationships”. Ronit’s Self feeding, tea set is part of Handle with Care group exhibition. You read my previous post about Ronit right here. www.ronitbaranga.com |
| Eva Avidar | Still Cockroach |
| I’ve beem planing on visiting the Six Biennale of Israeli Ceramics for a while now. Lets be clear on one thing, I hate cockroaches but… this little creature is briliant and the fact that I know it’s made out of clay maks me love it! I don’t know much about the artist, Eva Avidar, so if anyone can share some info I’ll be happy to hear it all. You can get in touch with Eva here: avidar.eva {at} gmail {dot} com |
| One On One Break | Romi Hefetz | Spins It! |
| I can’t explain how excited I was when I first realized that the lady behind “Romi Ceramics” is actually Romi Hefetz, a native Israeli, who now lives in Long Island City, New York. Romi’s ceramics have a certain flow to them. It feels like a magic hand danced it’s way to create a smooth vase… And these bold colors… I just love them! So… there is no other way than to have Romi as my next One On One Break. BTW, her Etsy Shop is just a click away. www.romiceramics.com |
| I’d love to hear about you, your journey, how it all began. | |
| While studying Product Design at Parson School of Design, I took a ceramics class with Marek Cecula, who was one of the most inspirational teachers I’ve had. I ended up taking this class again and again. After working as a product designer for about a year and a half, I realized how much I miss working with my hands. I started by renting a space at a communal ceramic studio, and working in the evening and over the weekend. A couple of years later I decided to do it full time. What has always attracted me in the slip casting process is that it encompasses both the hands-on craftsmanship quality as well as the production line aspect, which requires thinking of how to reproduce each piece, and adds another challenging tier to the design process. | RomiHefetz |
| Can you describe your work process for me? | |
| I usually start by deciding which kind of product I want to make, and continue with free sketching whatever comes to my mind. When I’m happy with one of the ideas, I usually elaborate on it a bit further, to make sure I arrive at a shape that is both visually pleasing and can be produced. Then comes the production stage, in which I figure out the best way to make the model and which materials would be used for it. And then, making the mold and start casting… | RomiHefetz |
| Which materials do you work with? | |
| I work with porcelain slip, which I sometimes mix with different stains. I like the bone-like matte finish of the porcelain itself, so I usually don’t glaze the external surface of my pieces in order to preserve the quality of the bare porcelain. All of my pieces are glazed on the inside though. And I also use plaster to make the molds. Other than that I use various materials to create the original models from which I make the mold. These can include paper, plaster, clay, plastic etc. | RomiHefetz |
| What is the most unusual piece you have ever designed? | |
| It was a project I called Puccino that I worked on at Parsons. It was a coffee set in which all the pieces had a double wall. The idea was to eliminate the handles, while still being able to hold the cups, when filled with hot liquid. The molds for this design were very complicated to make, as well as casting the actual pieces. | RomiHefetz |
| What’s next? What is your dream? | |
| I would love to expend my business without loosing the “hand-made by me” aspect of it. I have more ideas that I would like to explore and produce, and it would be great to have a business that is big enough to allow keeping a steady production line, while introducing new products every season. | RomiHefetz |
| I’m curious to know where does your inspiration come from? | |
| This is a very difficult question to answer, I think. It is impossible for me to separate between which is a source of inspiration and which is not. My inspiration can derive from seeing an exhibition, from watching a great film, from having a conversation with someone smart, from cooking a delightful dish, from just taking a walk or going camping, or from any other daily activity. It is really about being receptive at a certain moment, in my opinion. | RomiHefetz |
| Can you tell me which designers inspire you? | |
| In no particular order: Gio Ponti, Joe Colombo, Isamu Noguchi, Ingo Maurer, Josef Hoffmann, Picasso, Alexander Calder, Castiglioni, etc etc… | RomiHefetz |
| What is the best advice you’ve ever received? | |
| I can’t think of one piece of advice that has changed my life. As long as I meet interesting smart people along the way, read good books and just absorb the world around me as much as I can, I’m bound to be given many many good advices. | RomiHefetz |
| If you had an extra hour each day what would you do with it? | |
| I wish I could have an extra hour every day! I would probably use it differently every time. One day I would take advantage of it to accomplish some studio tasks that I never get the time to do, another day I would just read a good book and relax and on another I would probably go to see an art show… | RomiHefetz |
| NY Break | Bailey Doesn’t Bark | Ants, Dots and In Between |
| Re Jin Lee is one of my idols. Not many people can work beautifully with the white and simple aspect of design. On the other hand, not many will say something like: “I purposely kept the design very minimal so it goes well with any other tableware”. When I need a quite moment, I wander into Re Jin’s Bailey Doesn’t Bark web site. She has it all from tableware to jewelry and stationary. The fact that she shares her process and behind the scenes makes me love her even more! Thank you Re Jin for all the beauty you bring to the world! www.baileydoesntbark.com |
| World Break | Otchipotchi | Paula Valentim | Snow White |
| Paula Valentim is one of my favorite ceramist these days and I find it hard to believe that she has been creating only since 2009. Her white world is filled with leaves and stones. I can imagine Paula walking down her favorite trail in her back door forest and collecting her next idea. There is nothing I’d like more than to have a wall of Otchipotchi Stones in my work room. BTW, for her recent birthday, Paula made this lemon cake with chocolate leaves. I’m loving these leaves and have to share it with you just because. {DesignBreak found Paula here} {This is a Portuguese World Break} www.paulavalentim.com |
| World Break | Jeez Vanilla | Adriana Belle | Sketchy Feeling |
| It seems like everywhere I go, I discover new painted ceramics theses days. For some reason, the Jeez Vanilla’s plates stood out right away. Maybe it’s the sketchy feeling or the story that you can fill in for yourself… I just can’t put my finger on it. The only thing I know is I want to see more! Adriana Belle, the lady behind it all, makes me want to open my childhood albums and start choosing my own portraits… {This is a Spanish World Break} www.jeezvanilla.com |
| Batia Malka | Inside The Womb |
| As you probably know I’m drawn to all the beautiful things in life and that is what I mostly post about. Batia Malka is a young ceramic artist who touched a soft spot inside me. Her “Inside The Womb” is so disturbing in so many levels but at the same time so sensitive and revealing. I’m speechless at this point. I leave each one to his thoughts. {DesignBreak found Batia here} www.batiamalka.com |
| Wapa Studio | Ady Shapira | Make A Wish |
| At first, Ady was a mystery to me. I fell in love with her Tea Light Delight collection and since then she keeps coming up with new variations yet surprising designs. One of the things I admire about Ady is the fact that she pays attention even to the smallest details. The fact that I’m obsessed with all things dandelions makes it even better. Ady’s Etsy Shop is a must! You can get in touch with Ady here: ady.shapira {at} gmail {dot} com |
| NY Break | Alyssa Ettinger | Milky world |
| The first time I laid my eyes on Alyssa’s milky world was while visiting the Brooklyn Flee a year ago. I kept my fingers crossed but didn’t find her there this time. Alyssa has this amazing ability to turn each vessel into piece of art! Her textile-inspired knitwear collection is one of my all time favorite and don’t let me start talking about the milk bottles, heaven! Alyssa’s Etsy shop is right around the corner. www.alyssaettinger.com |
| Raw-Edges | Fold your tile |
| If it was up to me, I’d write a weekly post about Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay aka Raw-Edges. I wish I could be a fly on their studio wall. Their latest creation is a series of bathroom tiles for the Italian manufacturer Mutina. The guys reproduced the effect of folded paper on ceramics. What a brilliant idea! BTW Shay, love your campers ;) {DesignBreak read it first here} www.raw-edges.com |
| Wapa Studio | Ady Shapira | The Planktons |
| I adore porcelain jewelries! If you find it as beautiful as I do, you have to take a look at Ady’s The Planktons, her jewelry collection. Do you wonder what does the term plankton stand for? “Plankton are any drifting organisms (animals, plants, archaea, or bacteria) that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water.” You can get in touch with Ady here: ady.shapira {at} gmail {dot} com |
| Studio Kahn | Spice It Up |
| The first exciting news of the day is that now even Studio Kahn has an Etsy Shop! The other exciting revelation is that the duo, Mey and Boaz, have a stunning new design up of their Sleeve. “Pidog and Duckster” are oil and vinegar vessels made from ceramic and silicon. “Each one of them can play a role of two different figures, depends where you put its’ head.” Don’t know what about you, but I sure am waiting for them to land in their Etsy Shop. www.studiokahn.com |
