A few weekends ago we went to moshav Beit Itschak to buy some honey. Across the street from the honey guy (we buy from the ‘grower’? ‘manufacturer’?) is Turkiz. After hearing so much about this store from my s-i-l we stopped to have a look. Wow.
My oldest walked in, sighed, and said ‘Mommy, it’s lovely.’
They have three stores (furniture, tchochkes, and a ‘shanty’ clothing shop) and a coffee house there. On Saturday it’s fairly packed with lines for the cafe.
I wasn’t over the moon on the furniture. For the past few years everything in these sort of stores was rough Indian pieces. Now white shabby chic is in, so now everyone is taking the same pieces they had stained so dark previously, and painting them white. It’s not that I wouldn’t have it in my home. It’s just that I’m dying for a bit of differentiation in the market. I also wish the stuff was made better. I long for proper dovetail drawers, doors that close flush smoothly, and hardwood furniture.
They also had a few colorful pieces which are starting to gain an interest in the market.
On the other hand their tchochke shop had me frothing at the mouth. Great dinnerware sets, morroccan plates, chintz tea sets, really cool entry mats, and so many more things.
One thing which stood out and I can’t stop thinking about were these wonderful door handles they had there. They were brass and ceramic in a cool, old school shape. Their website, unfortunately, is more like an online brochure and doesn’t have a full selection (or even a partial selection) of their stuff, so I can’t show you the doorhandles (or anything else) here.
My oldest and I just walked around with our mouths agape. Then my youngest (the destroyer) came in and we had to go. He also had a bit too much appreciation for all the nice things in the store.
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.
Clients include JELD-WEN, Benchling, Sixth Continent, Totango, Folloze, Radix DLT, Axa Tech, Allianz, and many more. Shira is also a sought after corporate speaker and marketing mentor, and has spoken at events such as Confluence and Content Marketing World, and taught at institutions such as Kellogg School of Management and S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai.
Read more about Shira’s company Hunter & Bard at https://www.hunterandbard.com
Love your blog! I am always on the lookout for cool, affordable tchochkes- not so easy to find in Israel, so I’ll be checking back for tips!
I really appreciate this English-language blog for decorating in Israel. We just bought an apartment and I love the “white” look. Our floors are mocha matte tiles so we are looking for light furniture – not the brown you see in all the stores….
Jerusalemgypsy – if you want to do the ‘white’ look but don’t want to spend the money they are charging for it now, buy some dark pieces with a good shape and paint it yourself. Use acryllic water based paint and lacquer – I know it’s not for wood, but it is easier to work with. I did that to our kitchen chairs and then sanded the sides to give it the ‘distressed’ look (I did this about 6 years ago). After I ‘distressed’ them I lacquered the chairs so they can be spilt on or whatever and just be wiped clean.