Apartment Becomes Art Space
I spent most of my free time in the last month cleaning up a long-neglected apartment in south Tel Aviv with a group of fellow artists. We patched the many craters in the crumbling walls, hauled away mountains of trash left by past tenants, painted everything white, and built a dividing wall in the kitchen.
Temporary Dwelling
The Jewish holiday of Sukkot is upon us—the week-long festival began on Friday night. Last year my husband and I decided to experiment with a low table and floor pillows, so we removed the legs from our regular dining table and built a low platform for it out of bricks. Next we headed to the famous Jaffa flea market and bought many inexpensive Turkish and Moroccan style fabrics and pillows, colored glass globes and lanterns.
Follow-up Post: Restoration of Beit Hatamar in Tel Aviv
Anyone who has taken a walk around Tel Aviv this year probably noticed the strange lighted glass blocks embedded in sidewalks throughout the city. I had heard that they have something to do with the 100th anniversary of the city’s establishment. Well today on my way home from work I stopped by a recently restored apartment building in Nahalat Binyamin Street called “Beit Hatamar”, or “The [Date] Palm House” in English, and took some pictures (with my phone—sorry about the quality). And I called the phone number listed on the little glass brick in front of it.
Design Museum to Open Soon in Israel
While a few have been around for over a century, Design Museums have sprouted in premier cities worldwide over the past two decades. I was very excited to hear last year that construction was well underway for Israel’s Design Museum in Holon, not far from Tel Aviv. It’s scheduled to open within the next year, and it’s already being hyped as an international landmark for design and architecture. With world-class architect/designer Ron Arad at the helm, this comes as no surprise. His concept and the models are exquisite!
French Country Decor and The Classic European Cafe
While I normally prefer modern style interiors, Mazzarine at 42 Montefiori Street makes me really appreciate French Country because it’s done so perfectly here. I couldn’t say enough about this cafe’s wonderful meals, coffee, and deserts especially, but this is after all a design blog.
I love how well it fits in with the surrounding neighborhood—classic Tel Aviv Eclectic Style buildings, quaint urban gardens, and shady streets. Once inside the front door you can walk through room after room of ornate chandeliers, solid comfortable seating, and delightfully tasteful decorations.
Velocity Art and Design
This place is amazing. They are always featuring fresh artists and designers. Based in Seattle, WA, Velocity Art and Design has been running for ten years now. Unfortunately for me I have only seen their online location, but if I ever visit Seattle their showroom would be the first place I’d go. The website has plenty to offer—beautiful merchandise that’s thoughtfully selected, easy navigation, plus a rich online community through their blog which I’m guessing mirrors the vibrant local community they seem to have created in Seattle.
Urban Gardens
My neighbor’s antique tin (she told me she bought it at the jaffa flea market) with a plant in it inspired me to walk around our neighborhood a shoot some of the adorable urban gardens and entryways. It’s one of my favorite things about this area—the Kerem Hateimanim and Nachalat Binyamin neighborhoods of Tel Aviv (surrounding shuq hakarmel), which have narrow streets and a lot of low-roofed houses that give it a really charming and village-like feel. It’s nice to see how people incorporate plant-life into private and shared spaces around the neighborhood. Enough words—now for some pictures.
Furniture by Innovation: Modern and Practical
My husband and I found out about this Danish furniture company nearly a decade ago when we lived in Pittsburgh and bought one of their beds from a shop there. We have since replaced the original mattress once but we still have the frame, which we brought from Pittsburgh to Washington DC and then to Tel Aviv where we live now. We like it so much we also purchased two sofa-beds for our place when we got here. Innovation is distributed globally, and we found a dealer in Israel via the Innovation website.
Lessons in DIY Design
I first heard about Yona3 from my neighbor Miry who popped into their studio out of curiosity when walking around our area of Tel Aviv several months ago. I staked out the place myself a while ago too, but did not decide to go inside and introduce myself until this week. The studio is a small loft space at 1 Ahuzat Bait Street, at street-level in the shadow of the neighborhood’s landmark Shalom Tower.
Walking through the already open door, I was greeted by Ayal Segev and Yasha Goman, who were sitting with their Macintosh computers at the work table they built using two carpenters’ saw-horses and a large slab of translucent corrugated pvc.
Art and Design Come Together at The New Gallery in Old Jaffa
Last month when I was walking around Jaffa, I discovered The New Gallery after my curiosity led me through a beautiful old archway and then a covered alley. The gallery was right in front of me as I came out the other side, and the classic mid-20th century modern furniture behind their big glass display wall told me I would want to see what else was inside. This place is really on top of their game—elegant arrangements of perfect vintage pieces, accessories, original contemporary art, and thoughtfully selected books and magazines. The building’s domes and arches, typical of old Jaffa, are a real nice compliment to its contents.
