| ArtWear | Hadas Betzalel | Out Of Context |
| It all began when Hadas started making her own accessories during fashion design studies. She loves designing compositions from materials that were taken out of context such as screws, zippers, buttons etc. Her Ice Necklace is my favorite one. You can visit Hadas’s Etsy Shop when you crave for a unique mix. You can get in touch with Hadas here: hadasbz {at} hotmail {dot} com |
| One On One Break | Inbal Ithachi | Get inside her creative mind |
| It’s been a while since my last One On One Break, but I’m sure it was worth the wait. I first ran into Inbal’s “Jewel for a button” about a year ago and tried to find her everywhere. Well, I guess Inbal sensed it ’cause a few weeks ago she wrote me an email and you can imagine how excited I was. For me, Inbal got the right mix with her clean geometric lines and her love for textile, fashion and architecture. www.inbalithachi.com |
| I’d love to hear about you, your journey, how it all began. | |
| Since I can remember, I liked to collect different materials and articles, and create something new out of them. I can remember the first time I entered into Shenkar college of engineering and design, I walked through the hallways and saw studios filled with machines and students working, and I know that this is the place I want to study at. I studied 4 years in the jewelry design department, 4 years of creativity, many interesting projects in which I made use of different materials, sometimes from other fields of design. What intrigues me most in jewelry design is the connection jewelry has to the body. To me, a jewel is a kind of an art-piece, intended for a specific area in the body, something between small scale architecture and body sculpturing. Upon completion of my bachelor studies at Shenkar, I started my master in design at the prestigious Creative academy in Milano, Italy. The studies there were a great experience for me, I was exposed to old traditions and techniques, used at luxury designs brands. During the program I designed products for luxury brands such as Cartier, Piaget, Chloe, Mont-blanc and Lancel. As part of my bachelor and masters studies, I was an intern at a fashion jewelry company in New York, and as a designer at Lancel in Paris. My current work combines aspects from the worlds of textile, fashion, architecture, and jewelry design. | Inbal |
| Can you describe your work process for me? | |
| My work process can have different starting points, in some cases the process begins with the material itself, I find a material that inspires or fascinates me and I start to test its boundaries, from there the work begins. In other cases, I start from the place in the body to which the jewel will belong. I conduct a shape, material and visual research, then the piece of work will go through several steps until I feel it is complete. | Inbal |
| Which materials do you work with? | |
| I usually work with soft materials, different kinds of fabric and leather, materials that I transform through different sets of processes. What inspires me the most is the interaction between a soft material such as fabric, and a hard material, like metal. The balance and combination between them intrigues me. | Inbal |
| What is the most unusual piece you have ever designed? | |
| I designed a skirt on which I hand-stitched 200 wires in a grid shape which allowed the fabric to have movement and sculpture-like qualities. | Inbal |
| What’s next? What is your dream? | |
| Since returning to Isreal from my masters in Milano, I have participated in a show at Periscope gallery in Tel-Aviv and in the 2010 Israeli jewelry biennale. I am currently working on my first independent collection which will soon be on sale. My dream is that my designs will get to and touch many people, that my pieces will allow people to think different and to see a different point of view. | Inbal |
| I’m curious to know where does your inspiration come from? | |
| As a designer I am open to many areas of interests. My inspiration comes from different and diverse fields: a dance show I have seen, a book I had read, a trip to somewhere, some special food and etc. I like to take inspiration from one area to another, for example I took the elements I saw in passion fruit and designed a set of jewels using those values. | Inbal |
| Can you tell me which designers inspire you? | |
| There are too many, among them are: Coco Chanel, Issey Miyake and Victor & Rolf. | Inbal |
| What about some web sites and blogs that you visit regularly? | |
| I visit a variety of sites, some of them are design brands, some are independent blogs: yatzer, style.com, Hermes and Creature Comforts Blog. | Inbal |
| Yaara Netzer | Vintage flavour |
| For some reason I’m drawn to this glass necklace. I have a feeling it has something to do with those glass buttons. You should head to Yaara’s Etsy Shop if you like this necklace as much as I do. You can get in touch with Yaara here: yaaranetzer {at} gmail {dot} com |
