I recently visited the apartment of Dani, a freelance graphic designer and artist, and his husband David, a linguist. They moved to the Karmelit neighborhood in South Tel Aviv in 2007 and celebrated five years of marriage last month. Dani told me about the difficulty in dealing with the Ministry of Interior after their arrival. Surprisingly, the real hardship was not in having their marriage recognized—yes, gays have more rights here than in most of the United States—but rather in the recognition of David’s conversion to Judaism.
I laughed when I heard this, but it’s not atypical. (Although one could argue that Israel shouldn’t give them a hard time about anything – but this is Israel after all – they have to give you a hard time about something. When I got married I had to get a letter from an Orthodox Rabbi stating I was born Jewish and was single when I moved to Israel – now that’s a story…) Without giving my full opinion on the matter, I can tell you that the unabashedly liberal civil court system and the separate court system that deals with religious matters, such as conversion, make for an interesting dichotomy.
David and Dani share their colorful little rental with one medium sized long haired dog and two gorgeous long haired cats.
I saw their apartment while I was visiting my friend Ezra. He was staying there while they were away on vacation. The moment I saw it I knew I had to meet the owners and take pictures.
What struck me the most were the shelves in their bedroom.
Each one was a story.
Filled with kitschy tchochkes begging to be looked at closer.
And books that leave you wondering what lies within.
Mix that with the art (the painting behind the bed is by Dani <– his art site is a must see) and you can understand why I wanted to meet him so badly.
The second bedroom is fashioned into a TV area / office / library. Patti would approve (there’s no TV in the bedroom).
Most of their furniture is from Ikea but a lot of the time they have changed it in some way so you wouldn’t necessarily recognize it.
Notice how the fun collections continue on the bookshelf.
The open kitchen is simple and utilitarian – and obvious that they cook. Look at that gorgeous pestle and mortar. It’s a great flat and shows just how much personality a cute rental can have, don’t you think?
Shira Abel is the CEO and founder of Hunter & Bard, an award-winning public relations and design agency that works with scale-ups and enterprises on building their brand, awareness and thought leadership.
As CEO of Hunter & Bard, Shira oversees a team that manages public relations, marketing, design, and brand development for clients across multiple industries. She develops strategies for organically growing companies through sincere digital engagement and the application of behavioral marketing.
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The art is unbelievable. I love it.
The apartment, not so much. I like all the elements, but something is just lacking.
I agree. Fabulous artworks, but minimal design.
Painting the walls into different colors, softer furniture, and creating extra storage space to stack away the books would all help bring this apartment together.
Nicolette
http://www.furnitureanddesignideas.com/
I love the artwork AND the apartment! I think they did a great job with the space–everything is so fun to look at!
You all a just hating because you don’t have the know how to put such an amzing apartment together in such a small space, like an Israeli apartment. Taking the venue into account I think you shoudl realize that the minimalism in the apartment is the most realistic way to utilize space and design. Love the artwork, love the apartment, love the tchochkes, love you guys.
Seth, I’ve lived in Israeli apartments for 16 years.
I’d hardly call that minimalism, and besides, minimalism when done well can look incredible. Like I said, I like the elements, but something is missing. I don’t hate the apartment, in fact for a rental it’s pretty cool, but cool enough to be featured on a design blog? I don’t think so.
Hi Lisa,
I think the problem is actually more of my photos (and crappy camera) than the apartment. Since I was the one that covered it I can tell you – it’s a really cute place. The rooms are small though – so I had a hard time framing the picture to get the feel of the rooms in a way that you could see what their appeal was. Which is why I took loads of mini-pics that broke up the space. That could be why you like the elements but don’t like the flow.
I certainly wouldn’t say that the place isn’t up to snuff. The art alone would get this place featured on most design blogs and G-d knows we’ve seen some terrible things on design blogs (http://www.moggit.com features those on a daily basis!)
One last comment – my reasons for featuring homes mainly comes from seeing some elements that our readers would like and could copy. Lisa – you mentioned you liked all of the elements – that alone makes it worth a review. Now you can take ideas from those elements and make them your own.
~Shira
Shira maybe you are right. But let me give you an example of what I mean – the bedroom. The art is incredible. The shelves are cute, but I find their placement off. The window has no treatment, the bed is stark. It’s not minimal, it’s bare.
I would treat the window, move the shelves, dress the bed, paint a couple of the walls a sophisticated off-white (if possible given it’s a rental), and do something cool with the half wall divider.
Yes I like the elements so I will concede that point. Usually I love the apartments you feature (and I make sure to say so) even if they are not really my taste. I guess I just didnt get this one.