SAMY D.

Samy D. at the Ritz Carlton

2011-05-27T20:20:00.002+03:00

An Israeli artist working in Tel Aviv, a curator based in London and an interior designer from Tokyo – these combined resulting in my sending a series of ceramic pieces I designed to Hong Kong for the Ritz Carlton hotel a few weeks ago.

I am always ambivalent about finishing a project. On one hand, there is no greater satisfaction than to see new works being packed and shipped. On the other hand, the same exact situation brings with it a melancholy feeling, like a deflated balloon when the party is over. After the last carrier left the studio with the last wooden box I found myself wandering about in the studio, unable to bring myself to work. I stopped, dimmed the lights and laid back on the studio's sofa. I had some magical afternoon hours, with a diagonal light illuminating a clean desk.


the first mock-up i sent to the interior designer in Tokyo

different kinds of gold samples

Those kinds of projects occupy me for way far more time than what is actually spent in the studio, physically working on them. This project challenged me in two aspects: the large scale dimensions of the objects and the global nature of the work process with the client being both in London and Tokyo. The professional relationship we established was full of mutual respect, I valued their overall point of view on the whole project and they respected my artistic point of view. They knew exactly what they wanted and yet they never told me "do such and such", they were interested in my own interpretation.
Even before the hotel opened, it already won several prices and got the highest rating of the chain's hotels (73 hotels and resorts in 24 countries). For general knowledge – the first Ritz hotel was established in Place Vendome in Paris in 1898 by the celebrated Swiss hotelier César Ritz. Even in his own lifetime he became a symbol – the king of hoteliers and the hotelier of kings. With the passing years the Ritz hotels became an international standard of luxury, style and most of all– impeccable service. Each waiter has a full suit for the daytime and a totally different suit for the evenings; chambermaids have white ties or pure white aprons, the hotels have gourmet restaurants of the highest quality and an exclusive décor.

The Ritz Carlton, Hong Kong - the highest hotel in the world

I designed a series of objects for the public area of the hotel, for its private dining area and for the hotel's bar. The objects are made out of rough ceramic clay. It is very complicated working with this clay, especially on the potter's wheel as I did with most of them. I don't want to get too graphic; I'll just say that after working on each of these objects I needed to heal from the "ultra-extra-deep peeling" the skin on my hands went through.

The vessels I made for the Ritz are the largest I have ever made. What limits the size of ceramic works is usually the kiln's size. It is not that I bought a new kiln for those works, but I made an extreme effort to maximize the potential of my existing kiln. I built inner constructions which supported the vessels and enable me to burn it in next-to-impossible angles.

The final result, as you can see in the pictures, is a series of objects with a rough finish and torn-like edges. Some of the objects were painted in black (on the exterior) and got the look and texture of basalt rock. If you add to it the gold and platinum explosions on the interior side of the works, you get an imagery of a volcano eruption. This is the origin of the serie's name – Volcano.

Diameter 84 cm, Height 76 cm

Diameter 83 cm, Height 23 cm

Diameter 65 cm, Height 65 cm

Diameter 84 cm, Height 76 cm

So the next time you go to Hong Kong, please stop by, go to the 102nd floor and have a glass of champagne, poured from a bottle resting in my own creation of a “champagne bowl”. Salute!

images of the new SAMY D. Volcano series
form the Ritz Carlton hotel in Hong Kong

Farewell from Jaffa

2011-03-02T23:08:00.000+02:00

A window with a blooming lavender planter and view to the Mediterranean Sea, a muezzin's cry and the smell of home cooking. A picturesque view, arched windows and the oldest port in this part of the Mediterranean basin. More than a month ago we took leave of all that.

Jaffa view

After more than three years in which Yohai and I, with two cats and a dog, lived in Jaffa's Ajami neighborhood, it was time to move on. We wrapped wine glassed with old newspapers, piled boxes atop each other, sat on suitcases to close them and headed to our new home in 'Qiriyat Hamelacha' (the 'handicrafts campus') a neighborhood in south Tel Aviv.

The farewell from Jaffa was full of mixed fillings. On one hand – there was no doubt we would miss the pastoral ambiance and the unique atmosphere of Jaffa. On the other hand – the physical distance from Tel Aviv and the different social codes came to be a bit tiring. Tel Aviv-Jaffa (the official name of the metropolitan municipality) joins two cities with one little hyphen. This metaphoric hyphen embodies so many differences, contradiction and gaps, in so many aspects of life, all at the same time, and it is exactly what makes Tel Aviv-Jaffa such a fascinating place. The return to the Tel Avivian side of the hyphen surprised us both in its intensity. The ability to leave home together in the morning and say goodbye with a kiss and the distance to everywhere which became significantly shorter feel more right for us now.

Jaffa was truly our home for a few years. After we acclimated to the neighborhood, and after the neighborhood acclimated to us, Jaffa showed us its beautiful side (most of the time, Ramadan aside, than the all rules change). I enjoyed immensely the walks with the dog on Saturday mornings all the way to the new park by Jaffa's beach. I used to stop over at the local bakery, picking up some fresh baked Pitas seasoned with some local olive oil and hyssop.

For those of you who know Jaffa, for those who enjoy reading about different places, and for those who plan a trip to Tel Aviv-Jaffa and want some local information that would not be written in your travel guide, I wrote the list that follows. I divided the list into four different areas of town: Ajami - center and south, northern Ajami and the old port, flea market area, and Old Jaffa. I tried to make this list the most personal; I'll leave the tourists places for the tour guides and invite you to my Jaffa.

View Samy D.'s Jaffa in a larger map

Ajami - Center and South

Falafel on Saturday morning – right across the corner from where we used to live there are 2 families making homemade Falafel on Saturday mornings (one on Emmunim St., the other on Even-Sinna St. you can just follow the smell, it's delicious). Fresh pita, sliced tomato and falafel balls (more of a patty than the usual ball) full of flavor. The good life, the good life in a pita.

Um- Ali – the neighborhood's greengrocer, a lovely and tolerant lady. Aside from pears, tomatoes and any other familiar vegetables she has many herbs and roots that I did not know even exist. Some would say that her pricing is correlated to the car you park on the curve in front, some would say that the brown part of the banana is not rotten but 'Baladi' (the local version of organic), but there is no one like Um-Ali when it comes to choosing the best watermelon or for the best olives (she sells them by the cashier).

typical Ajami street corner

Stuffed Grape leaves – Jaffa for the advanced. Personally, I know those of Noel (from Kedem St.) but she is not the only one. You give her an empty pot in any size and color and two days later you get it back full of grape leaves stuffed with rice rolled perfectly, with an accuracy of a Buddhist monk on Ritalin.

Hamidron Park (“the slope park”) – it is true that once it was a neighborhood, it is true that in the 80's the place turned to be a construction waste site, it is also true that the development of the park was accelerated when many Israeli Jews moved to Jaffa – but the bottom line is that it is very very beautiful.
I followed the different stages of the new park's development. In the beginning, the hills of construction waste were made out of colorful tiles, ceramic electric fuses and even everyday's household items which cried out the story of the obliterated neighborhood. The time passing, the salty air and giant grinding machines transformed the broken pieces of life to high hills of sand and gravel. From one weekend to another the hills moved and slid to their final position of curvaceous slopes having an abundance of intimate hideaways and vast public spaces. There is even one spot in which Tel Aviv from one side and Bat-Yam on the other are hidden from the eye and all one can see is more than 180 degrees of blue touching blue.

The new park by Jaffa's beach

Derech-Hagouf – in a small turn from Kedem St. (3 Menuha St.) you can find the Jaffa-chic wellness center Derech-Haguf. Once in a few months I go there for an Ayurvedic massage from one of the best - Marian Schwaitzer. After the treatment you can sit on the small terrace facing the sea and drink cold tamarind juice. On my last birthday, a few weeks ago, I put my back muscles to Marian's practiced hands – so he could dismantle me gently.

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Northern Ajami and the old port

Fried Calamari – Misedet Hadayagim (“The Fishermen's Restaurant). Located on a prime location, at the very end of the Jaffa port. Except for a quick visit to the bathroom, it never crossed my mind to sit inside the restaurant and not outside on the water front. It also never crossed my mind to order anything other than a huge pile of fried Calamari and a pint of beer. Fresh calamari, full of frying oil that tastes like heaven.

Cookies in the window – on the end of Hatzedef St. (one of the most beautiful streets) there is a house with a little window facing the street. From the little window you can smell from a distance the home baking of sweet and salty cookies. I must admit I had never actually bought some, I bake my own at home or buying at Margoza (read about in the next section of town), but it makes a lovely and romantic stop when touring Jaffa.

The window in action

Abu Hassan Humus – Personally, I am not a huge humus fan, but I know people who speak about their favorite humus with a loving gaze in their eyes and with an almost religious conviction that their favorite humus joint is the best in town. Abu Hassan in Hadolfin St. is one of the best known humus restaurants in Tel Aviv. I used to go by there on my way to work. 8:30 AM – I am just starting my day and people already standing in line for their morning Humus with boiled egg. To be honest – way too much for me.

Humus lovers take their humus outside

Dvir Gallery – every few months, in Hangar no. 2 in the old Jaffa port, there is an interesting art exhibition at Dvir Gallery (a branch of Dvir Gallery from Tel Aviv). Those days there is a simple and fascinating exhibition titled Lichtkeile by Miroslaw Balka. Twirled Perspex slabs hanging from the ceiling and making magic with the sun light. So simple yet so hypnotizing.

“Shuk Hapishpishim” Flea Market Area

Margoza – At any given period of time, I have my preferred local café where I stop on my way to the studio for coffee and croissant or a sandwich. It changes each time my way from home to the studio changes. While I was walking from home in Jaffa to the studio in Abulafia St. (the current location), each morning, may it be cold outside or deadly hot, I had my coffee in the small and lovely Margoza bakery (24 Margoza St.). The place is opened by the husband and wife team of Michal and Tzafrir Dahan.

One of the best things to have there is a small wonder named chouquettes We are talking about a small, thin crusted cream puff, garnished with sugar crystals and filled with fresh air from the Alps (not really). 20 chouquettes in a Cellophane bag tied with a ribbon and the world looks much better. Beyond that the different breads are great, the baguettes are authentic and the dried fruit cake is exceptional, a weekend without it is not quite a weekend.

Lauri Recanati's studio – almost a year ago I wrote about the mosaic artist and dear friend Lauri Recanati. Her studio in Rabi Hanina St. is one of the more magical places in the neighborhood. What was a pickles factory (!) over 300 years ago became, under Lauri's sophisticated and loving hand, the local branch of heaven. A charming studio with romantic yard, mosaic art works and giant bins full of colorful raw materials in any color and texture you can imagine.
Visit by appointment, find out the details in her website.
12 Rabi Hanina St. Jaffa

Lauri Recanati in her fabulous Jaffa studio

Fresh baked bread from Charcuterie bar – many know by now the Charcuterie restaurant. Less know about the bar down the same street as the main restaurant, even less know about the wonders of the bread they bake there. If you ask hard enough they will even sell you a loaf to go. Extra hard crust and soft and airy on the inside. There is only one problem with it; by the time you get back home half of it is gone.
3 Rabi Hanina St. Jaffa

The Old city

The old city's area was the center of town for centuries. It was badly damaged when Napoleon conquered it and was rebuilt in the early 19th century. The last renovations were done by four Israeli leading architects in the early1960's (Yaacov Saar, Seadia Mendel, Yona Pitelson and Eliezer Frenkel). The best way to experience the old city is just wandering the magical little streets named after the zodiac signs. Usually when I wander the streets of old Jaffa I try to imagine future times when the area might be vibrant again. The try to make it an artist's district did not really catch up, but I believe in the great potential of the place and sure that one day it would be alive.
When you take the tour in Old Jaffa, do not miss the Ilana Goor museum.

Ilana Goor Museum - located in the property with the most beautiful view in all of Jaffa. It is a life project of very appreciated and loved woman. Ilana Gur is a controversial image that creates, collects and exhibits the art she loves. I hope to write a post about her soon.

Hope you enjoyed the ride in the streets of my Jaffa. If you have any nice experiences or special site you want to share, please leave a comment. And next time you're in town – don't be a stranger.

Imagination 2011 - The 12th Annual Israeli Art Exhibiton

2011-02-07T16:13:00.000+02:00

Bird migration, major holidays, birthdays – all things that indicate the passage of time. Another occasion of that kind is the annual Israeli art exhibition – Imagination, going on for the 12th time this year. This annual show, sponsored by HaPoalim Bank, is a fundraiser for the Israeli AIDS task force. For one weekend, the main branch of the bank transfer itself to a beautiful, seven stories high exhibition space. More than 650 Israeli artists donate their best works for this noble cause, last year more than 1,200,000 NIS were raised.

My older sister died from this horrible disease in 1988 and since then I am involved in the Israeli AIDS Task Force's work. In recent years I am not an active member but appreciate the opportunity I have to assist with my art works.

Family Tree (2011) - my donation for this year's exhibition

In the past few shows I donated my premiere pieces from several series of works. In 2007 I donated the first work from the HETOME series, in 2008 the first work from the Querelle series and in 2009 the first of Memories series. This year I am also donating a first work from a new series – Family Tree.

CANTO IV - HETOME series 200x70 cm (2007)

Livre Blanc - Querelle series 90x90 cm (2008)

Memories 12/09 - Memories series 120x120 cm (2009)

You may see all the art works exhibited and sold on the exhibition's website, which will be updated only on the morning of the exhibition's opening on February 18th. In the meanwhile you can enjoy the works that were exhibited over the last two years. The art works that will not be sold at the exhibition's opening will be sold online on the exhibition's website.

Hope to see you there and I wish continued good health for all of us!

Imagination 2011 – Bank Hapoalim (main branch) 63 Yehuda Halevy St. Tel Aviv
18.2.2011 – Opening Gala
19.2.2011 Saturday 19:00-23:00

Guest post No. 2 - Yohai, my life and business partner

2010-12-20T17:15:00.001+02:00

Not all of you know, but this blog is usually being written as a sonata for 4 hands. The voice is Samy's the “handwriting” is mine, Yohai's.

Samy and I have lived together for almost six years now, and for the last four we have been working together as well. In American English it sounds even better – we are proud to be life and business partners. And yet mixing family and business is always complicated and many advised us not to do it. All the clichés about mixing business with pleasure and on and on but we can handle complicated and, when it does work – it works well.
A few months ago I came across a video about two chocolatiers, the Mast brothers who look almost exactly the same - Brooklyn hipsters with the same red haired beard. Aside from what looks like the high quality chocolate they manufacture, they talk in the video about why you should go to business with a family member. They say that "there is no body that you are going to fight harder with than your family, but there is no body you are going to fight harder for than your family".

having fun in Chicago, when we participated in SOFA 2007

On the first day of working together in the studio we went out to lunch. I was deeply moved by Samy's gesture of putting a sign on the gallery's door – 'WE will be back soon'. A small gesture but so perfectly executed. Even though the new beginning was very exciting, at the same time it was not simple to handle at all. The physical space that the gallery and studio shared was quite small and for years it had been used by only Samy himself. Then, just like that, in one day, the staff (and occupants) of SAMY D. was doubled. We needed to rearrange the shared space, both literary and metaphorically. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took us almost a year and quite a bit of couples therapy to adjust and share the room and the responsibilities.

Samy and I on an opening of an exhibition in Shorashim gallery in Tel Aviv

And then, we found our rhythm. For several years (up until just recently) we used to leave the house together in the morning, walk from Jaffa to Neve Tzedek along the beach together, spend our working hours together under the same lights, focused on the same goal and by the end of the day doing the same way back to Jaffa - by all means, a very intense relationship.

our way to work from Jaffa to Neve-Tzedek, Tel Aviv

Our mutual hard work allowed us to grow the business and rent an additional space, a much larger and brighter working studio. All of a sudden, after four years of being together 24/7, we found ourselves saying 'good bye and have a nice day at work' to each other in the morning and meeting again in the evening. Still focused on the same goal, but separately. Our close circle of friends thought it was a wonderful idea – now you can miss each other, breath a little, change the atmosphere.

The changes in the atmospheric pressure were more severe than we (or I) expected, it even caused a metaphoric dizziness. In retrospect, the current change required much more intense preparations and inner work than the first change, when we just started working together. The 'separation of forces' was a complicated and painful process which we have yet to complete (but we're working on it). The physical distance from the creative process which takes place at the studio, and the distance from the man I love confronted me with some challenging circumstances.

All this personal exposure, which I am not accustomed to, is brought to your reading eyes in order to share with you a short video I edited. Two or three posts ago, we shared with you a magazine story, featuring the home we used to live in at the time (irony at its best – the day after we uploaded the post we were notified that we need to look for a new home). The article's title was – "What I love about Samy D.". It quoted something I said about the 'souls' of the dishes we have at home (all SAMY D., don't get confused). Since then, I have been thinking about the title.

In theory, for me it is supposed to be the easiest to say what I love about SAMY D. (and let's differentiate for a minute 'Samy' the man and 'SAMY D.' the brand). It is not only that I sell his art at the gallery but I am eating and drinking out of it at home. When the studio and gallery shared the same space I experienced almost all the stages of manufacturing (and miss it a lot). The first time I saw Samy in daylight was when I came to visit him at the studio, he was working on the wheel, and I, like Patrick Swayze in the movie Ghost, was swept away. After thinking about it for some time I came to the allegedly obvious conclusion – what I love about SAMY D. is exactly what I love about Samy. The multiplicity, the diversity and abundance, the fact that he can do with his own hands everything he wishes with grace, tons of talent and originality.

Samy and I after the opening gala of SOFA Chicago

And you? What do you love about Samy D.?

The Gorgonian Collection

2010-10-27T15:49:00.000+02:00

I believe that if I would ask people who are familiar with my work what characterizes it, I would get three different answers – an extensive use of gold, strong colorfulness and the series of works composed of ceramic arms, or spikes, interwoven in a variety of manners.

Gold – I won't deny it, I love gold. The metallic bling adds certain elegance to the ceramics which is impossible to get with colors or glazes. There is something primeval about the sparkling yellow that appeals to most of us (and for to whom it does not, I always have the platinum plating…).

Strong colors – I am not afraid of color. I never really understood the axiom that says plates must be white. As an enthusiast cook, it never even occurred to me that colorful plates may steal the focus from the food served. On the contrary, I feel that the colors emphasize the colors of the dish. Some would even say the food tastes better on colorful plates than on white or even off-white tableware.

The series of works composed of ceramic arms – or by its official name – The Gorgonian Collection. Gorgonian – after the Medusa the Gorgon with the hair of snakes from Greek mythology and after a group of sea creatures bearing the same name.

Gorgonian at the making

The first few works from this series were created a year or two after I opened my studio. For the first few years, what interested me most about those works was the technical side of it; I wanted to master the clay, to bring it to its extremes. In the beginning, many told me that what I am trying to do is impossible to do with clay. Nothing in the world goads me more that when I am told something is impossible. Over the years, after I learned to 'feel' the clay and its limits, the artistic expression became more important than the mastery of the material. Furthermore, in retrospect, one can detect in what state of mind I was when doing each one of the Gorgons. The state of mind is reflected in the nature of spikes' twists. Difficult times brought with them many twists and turns, visual abundance and conflicts among the ceramic spikes, more harmonious times reflect in the spikes' order and relative uniformity.

Gorgonion Subject (2007)

The Gorgons always provoke strong reactions. The reactions are very diverse but almost ALL of the gallery visitors stop and relate to those works. Sometimes the reaction is enthusiastic, sometimes they tell about their fears. Many see in them sea creatures, many see flames, some even related the imagery to the Holocaust. The imagery that guides me when I am working on a new piece from the Gorgonian collection is the affinity of the ceramic arms, the relationships between the spikes, between the souls.

Blue Gorgonian Teapot (2006) - The Kamm Teapot Foundation

As stated, I owe the Gorgonian collection much of my reputation. One of my biggest successes was that a teapot from this collection was exhibited in SOFA Chicago and purchased by the biggest and most prestigious teapot collection – The Kamm Teapot Foundation.

Happy Rosh Hashanh!

2010-09-05T15:08:00.000+03:00

i wish all my friends a beautiful new year (the Jewish new year)!
hope to see you all soon,
Samy D.

my base and insparetion - an interview for a life style channel

2010-07-29T18:03:00.000+03:00

A few months ago I was interviewed for an Israeli life style channel. The interview focused on how it is to work and create in Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv. It was done by the stylish Shirley Glick, a former model who looks like Modigliani muse and now life style and design reporter.

Even though in the last few weeks I am working in my new studio (10 minutes walk from Neve Tzedek) I still feel connected to the neighborhood. The store in Shabazi St. in Neve Tzedek keeps working as usual and soon will be renovated and use all the space I used to work in. it will always stay my base and part of my inspiration.

Promise to keep you posted!

Enjoy the video (Hebrew with English subtitles)

"what i love about SAMY D." - an article by Anat Stein

2010-07-16T14:52:00.000+03:00

Almost a year ago, our home (Yohai's and mine) was featured in the Israeli magazine 'At'. The story was written by Anat Stein (and Hadas Kruk, her partner in their design company – Armadillo). I know Anat from my studies at the HIT (Holon Institute of Technology, near Tel Aviv), where we spent many long hours under the same neon lightning.
Anat visited us in our home in Jaffa at the end of a very long day, for what was supposed to be a short visit and an interview became a lovely evening over a bottle of wine. After covering some biographical facts, the conversation evolved into a fascination discussion about art, design, industrial design as opposed to “one off” design, about the design process and reciprocal relations.
Since that visit, we have made continuous improvements to our home but try to keep the “airy” Jaffa feel.
In the last paragraph I am quoted about my need for a new studio. Almost a year has passed and look at me, sitting in my new studio at my new desk, surrounded by my preferred colors and proportions – exactly as I always wanted.
Here is an edited translation of Anat Stein's article -

What I Love About SAMY D. – The Home and Creations of the Designer Samy D.
Two years ago, after living in Neve Tzedek and the Noga Quarter in Tel Aviv, the designer Samy D. moved to Jaffa. Here, at the heart of the Agami neighborhood, in a house that was built around 1890, he lives with his life and business partner, Yohai Barak. The apartment has four large rooms and a large kitchen. The ceiling is high, the doorways are wide, original and reconstructed tiles ornament the floor and light blue windows open the whole home to the Mediterranean blue.

"Personally, having been born and growing up in Tel Aviv, I need the city," says Samy about the transition to Jaffa, "but we both wanted quiet and fresh air, we wanted to live in a specious apartment, and it is very hard to find such spaces in Tel Aviv." Tel Aviv has no air, the towers around Neve Tzedek makes it like a kiln, here there is quiet, you can even hear hens from the neighbor's back yard".

"The move to Jaffa was a process" Yohai continues, "At first it was very complicated, I walked in the streets and I felt like a pain in the eye to the neighbors, I felt like a settler. There is a problematic process happening because of market forces, this process is happening all over the world, but I felt guilty at first. Slowly, more people say hello on the street, and we are becoming part of the neighborhood."
Samy: "Not long ago we were in some of Tel Aviv's most exclusive suburbs, and I said to Yohai that it could be nice and comfortable to live there, but when we returned home I told him that despite everything – we need to stay here (in the city)! Over there, there are no people in the street, people are behind high walls.
Here in Jaffa I am walking around with Osho, our dog, and interact with people. I get to know the people with their children, there are more and more multicultural kindergartens Jewish - Christian - Muslim."... Multiculturalism is the new black, the move to Jaffa was to check if it would be right for us to buy a house here."

After graduating with a degree in industrial design and interior design at the HIT, Samy accidentally discovered Pottery, at the studio of his partner at the time. "It swept me" tells Samy, "one thing led to another, the first two years all I did was investigate shapes and explored the material, but there was a demand for products so I had to produce."

Yohai Barak and Samy met five years ago, and within a few months Yohai became the studio manager.

- How does it work?
"With Yohai there is no competition, there is completion," says Samy, "It took us a year to define what exactly each of us is expected to do; before I did it all alone, today I do not know how I did it. Yohai did not understand how I could, produce, sell, market, manage, contact with clients, impossible juggling, despite everything it worked, thanks to the product "
"Thanks to the designer of the product!" Barak adds, "from Samy's side it was a lesson of letting go and making room, Samy is very total.
"Totalitarian" add Samy with a smile.

Barak studied architecture in Tel Aviv, and then went to complete his studies in France where he realized it was not for him. When he returned to Israel Dr. Etty Hagai, owner of a consulting company, suggested he come to work with her, she said, "come work with me, you will learn the profession and eventually go run SAMY D. '" recalls Barak.

Since they started working together and Barak is responsible for brand management and marketing of SAMY D, Samy is free to work on his designs and art works.

'summer living room' - from where you can see the Mediterranean blue

- All products are made at the hands of Samy?
"It's a one man's “sweatshop”, without employees, says Samy. "Today I am very quick and very skillful, there was a time I had seven employees, all production workers, it was problematic, I realized that working solo works better for me.”

- In recent years, your work is shown in galleries and museums, tell me about your debut in the art world?
Samy: "About three years ago, I started a very calculated process of transitioning from being known as a designer only to be recognized also as an artist. The first work of conceptual art I showed in Tel Aviv, was at an exhibition called "Tool Testing 2006", as the name of the exhibition implies. It was for the experiment, to test the reactions of people, the movement, the subject matter. People knew me as Samy D. the tableware designer. At first when people defined me as a "ceramist" I fought it, I came from the design field, I'm not limiting myself to the material, ceramics was available at the time and allowed me to grow with it. "

- Is this part of the development of the “design art” field in the world?

Samy: "There was a clear strategic thinking to move from industrial design to art, it is not 'design art', I don't like these terms, they kill the art, it cheapens it. There is no need to embellish, some things are classics, it's just art. Years ago I could not call myself a designer; I am still not completely comfortable with defining myself as an artist, although there are more and more who define me as one. Some things are to be learned along the way of becoming an artist".
Barak: "Samy knows exactly where he wants to get to. The actual work, the product, and where he wants to bring his career, sometimes it is hard to work in an environment like this, you have to rely on his vision, but on the same time you must have the skill of make your opinion count".

Samy's artistic growth was preceded by a period in which he almost experienced bankruptcy, "I started again from scratch. Did not see light at the end of the tunnel, I went from complete dark to the light, all the clichés are true," says Samy, "for two years I didn't exhibit anywhere, nevertheless I had my shop which worked as an exhibition space for my new designs. During this period I attended the third Israeli Ceramic Design Biennale, curated by Marek Cecula; It was important for me to show that I still exist, I showed a set of bowls called "Condyloma", it was terrible work but it developed the visual language of it to the series of works – "Genesis ", just like giving birth."

In 2008, Samy exhibited his solo exhibition "Genesis", at the Periscope gallery of Design in Tel Aviv, where he went on, as defined, to walk the thin line between art and design. He set a series of sculptural vessels, coated, as Samy likes, with 14k gold. Phallic motifs protruded from the vessels which were engraved with stories from Genesis.

"The Genesis exhibition dealt with identity, not just sexual, but rather personal identity as a human being. Taking the most hegemonic story in the world, and look at it in a different perspective, to examine its place in the chain of generations" Samy explains while a local muezzin's voice rolls in the background. "The Genesis exhibition in Tel Aviv started a crazy sequence of exhibitions, in July we exhibited at Vered Gallery in East Hampton, New York, in November we participated in SOFA - Chicago, we participated in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Craft Show and on the fifth Biennial of Ceramic Design at the Museum of Eretz Israel. Many works were bought by internationals collectors, most of whom were buyers from the United States, Australia and the UK."
On the fifth Biennale of Israeli Ceramic Design which was curated by Hagai Segev Samy Exhibited significant works from his Genesis series, the Gorgonian body of works (after the Medusa from the Greek mythology) and from the HETOME series.

- People say your works are exhibited at the homes of famous movie stars and designers all over the world ...
Samy: "I'm not a name dropper, some names of famous buyers were mentioned in the local and global press. I do not know how they knew I am very discreet with my clients, but I don't deny it. Reputation speaking, what is important for me is that a teapot form the Gorgonian body of works was purchased by the Kamm Teapot Foundation which is the largest and most prestigious teapot collection in the world."

A work from the series HETOME is a part of the Strauss collection, another item from this series is in Samy and Yohai's living room, the entire series shows a literal and visual interpretation of a poem by Lord Byron, from the Romantic period. It is interesting to discover an early work of Samy, in mixed technique, which includes similar text, on the wall of a room in their home, converted into their 'summer living room'.
"This work was part of my portfolio for the HIT, years ago" says Samy, "prior to my studies in Israel I spent two years at the American University in Rome studying Renaissance architecture and art history. It was an amazing experience to study in a city which is one, big Museum of Art. During school we went to Venice and read texts written by artists or by writers writing about art. I remember we read Lord Byron's poem, called "Child Harold Pilgrimage," which he wrote about the city of Venice, he wrote: "..." She to me was as a fairy city of the heart" at that time I was intrigued by sexual identity, I was playing with word 'fairy', and searched whether Lord Byron was gay. I found an article by a researcher who claimed he had sexual experiences with men, they had a tumultuous life the Romantic period, Byron and Oscar Wilde, who lived at the same time, he ran a very visible sexual relationship with his sister, and was accepted while Oscar Wilde's sexual orientation was denounced... today I am interested, not in the sexual meaning of the text but the level of perceived text and the spoken text. When I re-read the text I found in it many layers of meanings I wanted to work with."
Barak: "Samy's works are built in layers of text, he takes two different parts of the same text, highlights some of it in gold, and create a third text. The finished work echoes the different layers.
Samy: "You see why he is here? He translates me; we discuss the works a lot."
They moved to the house two years ago, but only recently found time to arrange and decorate it.
Samy: "Just as we entered the apartment we received a huge commission of 1800 bowls. Two months of work from 6 am to 12 at night, and then the sequence of exhibitions, we ran to buy a couch so we would have something to sit on at night after working like crazy. We also have a large, 90-year-old armchair which is being renovating now, I have pictures as a baby, sitting on it in my mother's lap. My dream is that my children will use it to. A pair of chairs is going to be renovated also, I already bought the cloth for it, I grew up on them, with them, it's part of my childhood in France. I love old chairs, even if they are a bit stained or torn, those are the living memories we have. Even the new couch gets the meaning of where we were then, including the scratches of the cats, which apparently will also appear on the fabulous fabrics I bought to renovate the furniture. "
Samy recently took a two-week vacation and painted the house, "I did not take any time off for twelve years, all the travels we had in recent years were work oriented, we usually take two days before an exhibition opening to adjust to local time and recover from jet leg, and two days after to walk the streets and see where we were." Samy says, "It was not really a vacation, more of a vacation for the soul, to organize the house. It started with just painting the rusty windows bars in white, then the walls light blue, then nothing could stop me," Barak leads to a certain point near the living room door:" From here you can see seven different colors of walls, I'm happy about the changes but find it difficult to keep up with its pace. Samy already bought fabric to upholster the chairs in the kitchen, he starts renovating the furniture, it will be like the white bars ... "

The kitchen is the heart of the house, they host friends for meals at least once or twice a week, and those are opportunities to try new recipes and test new tableware. Samy cooks "with the guests, I do not like to cook alone", Yohai washes the dishes.
In the center of the kitchen stands a Chippendale table Samy bought, an original Danish design kettle from the 60 inherited from Aunt Carmela, and a cupboard shelf loaded with SAMY D.'s dishes.
Barak: "What I love about the dishes is that they have a soul, all the dishes here are the tests from the studio, each one unique in the world, or dishes that are imperfect. Sometimes we bring new dishes to test their usability, testing the technique, types of colors and glazes and try to see our friend's reaction to it, if they are ergonomically wise."
Samy: "Now we have brought a new series from the studio where I tried to work for the first time with black clay, set of plates and bowls with a fold, for easier grip."

What are your plans for the future?
Samy: "I've been looking for a long time for the right studio, the right size, including the right manpower, not too many, thinking about opening more stores. Step by step, we do not believe in pressure and getting ahead quickly and hastily, an idea we have today can happen in a day or in five years and it's OK, it must be done right. I don't want to shake the boat too hard; I've been there and do not want to go back to where I could not keep up. "

my Hebrew Blog

2010-07-01T13:37:00.000+03:00

as you may know, i keep 2 blogs, one in English and the other in my maternal language - Hebrew. if you prefer to read almost the same content in hebrew, just click - Here.
in the last few weeks we were so busy with the new studio (the new and amazing new studio, if I may). i promise to write more often once we will be settled in the new place. the shop in Shabazi St. in Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv keeps working as usual.
hope to see you again soon,
Samy D.

my ad in this week's TimeOut Tel Aviv

Rococo Tableware - than and now

2010-05-17T16:49:00.001+03:00

Rococo tableware

A few months ago I wrote a post about the evolution of the very first product I designed – the cup with the snake handle. The cup was my first product and not long after, I began the process of designing a plate. The inspiration for the serrated cut plate came from a sweet childhood memory. I still remember the quivering excitement I felt in my stomach when my mother took out the Limoges dinner set and let me set the table for holiday meals. It was (and still is) classic Limoges tableware with Jade and gold ornaments. The plates' shapes roused my imagination, the non-round shaped plates and the delicate cut of the rim blew my child brain. It was so different from the ordinary plates that inhabit most kitchen cabinets.

my mother's Limoges

When I came to design the serrated cut plate I tried to take my childhood memory and give it my own interpretation according to my aesthetic comprehension and taste. I tried to take the classic plate and make it contemporary and mine.

the very first plates i have ever done (1997)

early version of Rococo plates (1998)

The proportions of the plate and the techniques I used were changed and updated along the years till it got to the final form – at the same time it also got its commercial name – Rococo dinnerware.

Believe me, I went through a lot with this plate (when I say plate I actually mean four plates in three different sizes). It was photographed for Elle Décor, it was the conceptual base to the dining set I designed for the first class of EL-AL (Israel's airline company) and its design was stolen, reproduced and manufactured by the person who was my US distributer at that time, a few years ago.

Rococo tableware at Elle Decor's Dinning for design 2003

EL-AL's first class breakfast set

This year my studio celebrates its thirteenth annversary. I hope and believe that thirteen years from now, whoever enters SAMY D.'s store (if it is SAMY D. Tel Aviv or SAMY D. Paris or New York in time) will still be able get himself a Rococo dinner set.

Guest artist no. 2 – Lauri Recanati

2010-04-28T14:39:00.002+03:00

Every now and then, people come to my shop and ask me what I do with the broken or defected dishes. Before, I used to smash it thoroughly and throw it away (a liberating action of its kind). in the past 2 years, my 'brokens' found a new caring and loving home, a home that celebrate their being and gives them whole new lives. This home is the studio of the mosaic artist and dear friend Lauri Recanati.

Even though we are actually neighbors, literally living around the corner from each other, we met in Philadelphia, PA. Both of us, among 21 other Israeli artists and designers, were invited by AIDA (an American organization which puts the development of Israeli art and design as their mission) to participate in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Craft Show. Our booths were across the same aisle so we passed many hours of standing on our feet, schmoozing the crowd, smiling all over and taking coffee or cigarette brakes by the Pennsylvania convention center's service exit. Friendships beginning this way, like coffee in a parking lot or wondering the streets of a not so interesting city, usually last for life.

What I love best about Lauri's work are the textures she create with her raw material and the fact that the lady does not afraid of color. On the contrary, she loves color and uses colors and shades of color in a way that gets me in the gut. The visual abundance of her mosaic art is achieved by her talent to choose the exact color and texture out of ENORMOUS variety of possibilities. Only after visiting her charming Jaffa studio, one can understand how much enormous can be enormous. Picture yourself in a huge candy store, with giant bins filled with colorful sweets – each bin in different color. I am sure that anyone visiting her studio, all of a sudden, wants to become a mosaic artist himself.

Lauri's visual language is unique and distinct. Many mosaic artists cover different objects with ceramics, glass, wood and what not. What's designating her work is that she does not "only" cover her object but work on it "outside of the box" (if there was not a literal meaning, I would had not use this cliché). She tells a much more interesting story by adding and assembling elements in order to amplify the three-dimensional nature of her creations. This way she composes layers of visual images that the longer you look at, the deeper it gets.

Nowadays we collaborate in a very cool project, promise to share when possible!

On February 2010 Lauri started to exhibit in Art Rouge gallery in Miami as part of the Art Basel festival.
nowadays she participates in a group show - Personal Readings of Antique Mosaics at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies located on Mt. Scopus (open until 12.12.2010)

the very cool Lauri Recanati

more guest artists -

photographer Miri Davidivitz

Spring Holyday and good news at Samy D.'s

2010-03-28T16:24:00.001+03:00

It's been too long since we last met here, way too long, but it was for a good cause. The last couple of months were very busy – a lot of work and a lot of different kinds of work.

For (almost) the first time in my professional life, I was commissioned to make and install an art work for clients that was too large to assemble anywhere but on site (it was way too large for the elevator and carrying it thirteen floors was out of the question). So I found myself working on the the living room floor of a Tel Avivian family for almost three full weeks; Painting, installing, gluing, climbing a ladder to see the work in a wider perspective, climbing off the ladder, gluing some more and so forth. Picture all this happening in the heart of a family's living space, between the kitchen and the living room, facing the terrace from where you can see the Mediterranean, ALL of Tel Aviv and even the Jerusalem mountains.

To tell the truth, I was a bit concerned by the whole situation, I wasn't sure I was so happy at the prospect that someone will peak over my shoulder all day long. And anyway, entering a family house for three weeks is to be in the middle of a family's life for three weeks with all that that implies.
In retrospect, I am glad to say that this work evolved to be a creative and human experience with emotional depth and great enjoyment, the kind of experiences that enriches one's life.

HeToMe in Orion 2010

Changing sceneries
Not only there is always a lot of work before Passover (one of Israel's two major week-long holidays), I have started a 'burning marathon'. I'm doing this in order to clear the studio's shelves in advance of a move to a new space. Everything will be painted, glazed and plated with gold or platinum (platinum is making a big comeback. After many years of gold only, I have a new collection in pastels and platinum plated rims!). After I finish all the burning, I will be able to pack my stuff (not a little pile of stuff, God help me) and move to my new, spacious and wonderful working studio.

After the move, for the first time the studio and store will not share a wall anymore. Even more strange, Yohai and I will not share the same working space anymore. It is going to take us some time to get used to the idea. On the other hand, I will be able to work on my large scale art works that were too big for the studio in Neve-Tzedek. I also will not have to use the acrobatic and contortionist abilities I developed in recent years when I worked in a space that grew ever more crowded and cluttered. The new studio has a kneading area, a painting area, a glazing area, a photography area and a petting area. All the spaces are vast and full of natural light – a great joy in SAMY D.!

The store is going to expand into and use the space I used to work in. I really hope that by next Rosh Hashanah (Israel's second major holiday, which takes place in September) I will be announcing the reopening and expansion of the SAMY D. Store in Neve-Tzedek, Tel Aviv (until September the existing store keeps working as usual). When it reopens, in addition to my ceramics, I will be showing furniture, home accessories and jewelry. It is a dream comes true; I have wanted to show my furniture designs for many years and never had the proper space for it.

All that work made the writing of a new post next to impossible. On the other hand, all this work has its outcomes. The store has not been so diverse and full of things for a long time. The new collection has bright colors, pastels and speckled colors – perfect for Passover – the Holiday of Spring!

My art work "Memories 1209" - Imagination Israeli Art Exhibition 2010

2010-02-05T17:04:00.001+02:00

I have been blessed, I love my job. It allows me to express myself in the most immediate way a career may allow. However, despite the great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction, after "a number" of cups, a "few" plates and a vase "or two", like in any routine – not every day is the most exciting one.
Having said that, about five weeks ago something VERY exciting happened. I finished working on a new piece – Memories 12/09.

I see this piece as a linear evolution of my art works to date, but this is something new, a stepping stone, if you will. In the last few years I have tried to explore and study ceramic as a material and its interaction with other materials, among others - textile. 3 years ago I made a piece of "one of a kind" body jewelry which was made out of thousands of porcelain flakes, knitted one to another (I worked with Yurini from studio YOYO32 on a jewelry collection, and this was a take off on that collection).

body jewelry & Shoes which were made out of thousands of porcelain flakes by Samy D.

Photograph: Miri Davidovitz Makeup artist: Eran Pal

In recent time, I have been thinking how can I amplify the movement in ceramics, and how do I recruit it into my work. When I started working on this piece, it was much bigger than the final result. Even though I am not an artist and designer of understatements, I chose to focus on each part of the larger scale work and deal with each part as an individual piece.

The whole work is made out of thousands of black ceramic scales, coated with 14 karat gold on one side (for a few weeks all I did was deal with those scales, sunrise to sunset – scales!)

Glazed scales

The original lines which guided me in setting the scales were the lines of a drawing by Jean Cocteau to the novel "Querelle of Brest" by Jean Genet. The drawing was the base to the initial movement and I took it from there to the places I found interesting. Not only that, after all the 4000 scales were placed, I changed the directions and moved all the pieces. This is the origin of the name of the series of works – Memories. The memory of the drawing is folded between the pleats of the work but do not visible to the naked eye.

I chose to donate the first piece of the "Memories" series to the annual Israeli art show Imagination (as I mentioned in my previous post about the other work I donated with the photographer and friend Miri Davidovitz). This annual event, sponsored by HaPoalim Bank, is a fundraising effort for the Israeli AIDS Task Force. This cause is very important to me, my older sister died of AIDS in 1988.

The show will be open to the public on Saturday evening, if you are in town – I'll see you there. (pieces not sold at the exhibition will be available for sale online afterwards).
I wish us all good health!

Memories 1209

Behind the scenes of "La Grande Genereuse"

2010-01-30T18:41:00.000+02:00

Sometime in the next two months, a new design book is going to be published by one of Israel's most refined design and architecture publishers – Orly Robinzon. The book features about 200 designers and artists who summarize their design perspective and show some of their best works. The amount of work, time and love which was invested in this book by Orly and her team promise an exceptional high-end outcome hitherto unseen in this country. The patience and dedication shown by Orly and her staff are truly remarkable. I, tend to know exactly what I want and how I want to do it down to the last detail. Some will think this makes me a difficult "customer", others will think the opposite. Orly went along with me 100% and allowed me to express myself as I chose.

When I told her about the concept for one of my double spreads in the book there was a long pause on the other side of the telephone line. "Hello? Orly? Are you still there?" "Yes, yes, I'm here. I'm just thinking, are you sure you want to feature your designs with a voluptuous female nude?!" "Yes, I'm sure."

I developed the concept of this photo shoot with my dear friend and talented photographer Miri Davidovitz. The inspiration was Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres's painting - La Grande Odalisque. The painting is famous for the nonchalant gaze the portrayed woman directs toward the viewer, and for the one extra vertebra he added to her spine.

The location was our home in Jaffa. The day before, my grocery list was unique, to say the least. It contained a few fresh pineapples, a baguette, 3 fish, a hot pink dragon fruit and a pile of mushrooms in all shapes and textures. I really wanted to also have a bloody chunk of hunting meat but settled for a bunch of blue crabs.

The morning of the photo shoot began very early. We first cleared off the living room and started to build the set. A highly skilled team of lovely people contributed to the successes of the shoot:
Photography – Miri Davidowitz

Hair and makeup –Eran Pal who does magic with color

photographer's assistance – Dean Avisar

Yohai my Love Life and Business partner

Me, Samy D.

And my model, muse and best friend – Shlomit, also known to her friends as Mugzemet (exaggerated, in Hebrew).

At the beginning of the day she covered herself between shootings. However, not much later, while we set the lightning or rearranged the silk scarves on set, she wandered around "dressed" like Eve giving technical support to clients on her Bluetooth earpiece (that's what she does in her daily life when she's not posing nude for a friend's art project).

The name I gave to this piece - La Grande Genereuse, relates of course to Ingers's painting. Using the French adjective 'genereuse' folds within it a wide spectrum of nuances. It speaks about the generous female character, generosity as a concept, about abundance, plenty and even thin strips of wantonness.

Selected picture

Unapproved version

The finished outcome will be donated by Miri and I to the annual Imagination Exhibition of Israeli Art, a fundraising to the Israeli AIDS task force held by HaPoalim bank. Beside this work I am donating another work – Memories 12/09 (which was mentioned by @SharonKuper in the previous post). I promise to write about it before the exhibition.

La Grande Genereuse

Shlomit has lost over 30 kilos since that day so, thank you Shlomit for losing all that weight only after we took your beautiful picture!

Guest Post by Sharon Kuper - Samy D.'s 42nd Birthday Party

2010-01-23T20:27:00.000+02:00

This past Friday I had the distinct honor and pleasure of being invited to Samy D.'s home to celebrate his birthday. Samy, Yohai and I have been friends for several years ever since I first walked into his gallery with mutual friends. Since that day, we've shared several great meals, a bunch of nights out and many afternoons in the studio as I can ever walk down Shabazi Street without stepping in to say hi. I did just that a few days before Samy's birthday and for some reason, found him suffering that same anxiety that we all have had since junior high - "what if I have a party and no one shows up?" I laughed at him at the time and promised to write a guest blog entry afterwards about what a huge success it was. And as I predicted, he needn't have worried. It seems that there are quite a few of us who love him dearly and were happy to make the "cut" and be invited to what was actually the first birthday party he has had in years.

I arrived at his and Yohai's wonderful Jaffa home (which you have heard about in previous blogs) at around 22:00 to find the lights dimmed, candles burning, all the furniture moved to the side in the living room and wonderful music being played by Israel's most famous chef, Israel Aharoni, who in recent years has taken up being a DJ (I guess talent has no limits). An eclectic group of about 100 friends were assembled and since the amounts of wine and cava were limitless very soon found themselves dancing.

Chef & D.J. Aharoni

I, while still sober, took a look around and have some observations at what makes Samy and Yohai so special and such great hosts. My thoughts, and they really are in no particular order, are:

Their home itself is a masterpiece of design but yet exudes a great deal of comfort. It contains several of Samy's works of art including a new, positively jaw-dropping piece he created for this year's Israeli AIDS Task Force Art Show at Hapoalim Bank and has hung in his living room for the next month [link to event site] (I hope Samy writes a blog on this piece, as it has awed me from the minute I saw it in the studio as a work in progress) and a one-of a-a-kind chandelier [photo below] Samy recently made. I have now spent the last five days trying to convince him to make more and sell me the first one when he does so. On the other hand, they have what is truly is a "home, from the two cats and a dog underfoot to the kitchen with houses a very comfortable sofa (photo), where I and some other "victims" of the prodigious quantities of alcohol found ourselves later in the night.

The food they served was perfect for that time of night. Wonderful savory olive and cheese ficelles, French pastries and one more thing that we will get to soon, as it was the crowning glory of it all. The food was, of course, served in wonderful dishes and bowls made by Samy himself, some old favorites and some new and even experimental pieces. I always love seeing that these exquisite pieces are also completely "functional" and not just for display. So for those of you who own some of his great pieces and display them as art, try using them to serve cookies or any other food. The "wow factor" does not get lost, I assure you.

And now…the final thing that just made the party for me. The people were great, the music was fun, the atmosphere was wonderful, the alcohol and snacks were delicious but the chocolate truffles were UNREAL! While a description will just not do them justice, you must make them (recipe below) I will try to explain. They simply were the perfect combination of an extremely high cocoa content chocolate (dark to the point of tasting slightly smoky), the exact amount of sugar needed to sweeten without being too sweet, an outer layer of unsweetened cocoa and…coarse sea salt rolled into the truffle itself. The salt's crunch and flavor offsetting the sweet creaminess of the chocolate rendered me temporarily speechless. Samy, happy, happy birthday and if you ever decide to give up art you have a great future ahead of you as a chocolatier.

Chocolate truffles

150 g dark chocolate 70%
150 g dark chocolate 85%
1\2 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
100 g French butter
1 flat teaspoon coarse Atlantic sea salt
3 Tbs. Whiskey
Unsweetened cocoa for the coating

Melt the chocolate in a small pot with the cream. Add the butter and mix.
Mix 1 yolk into the chocolate, and then the second one, add the salt and Whisky.
Cool the chocolate in the fridge, until it bcomes solid.
Create little bowls with a teaspoon and roll in the cocoa powder to coat.

Enjoy!

Christmas at the Cohens

2009-12-31T18:03:00.000+02:00

Each year I send my clients and friends greetings for Hanukah, Christmas and New Year's – sometimes all in one message, sometimes separately. My customers and friends have received these greetings for many years now and I have never sorted the list by geographical region, religion or family names. Both on Passover, Rosh Hashanah and during the winter holidays I send the same greeting to the Fuchsman and Levy families in the US as I do to the Lacroix or Smith families in France and Australia.

greeting card from recent years

This year I sent my holiday greeting card after Hanukah was over. To my surprise, for the first time ever, I got some disapproving feedback to the Christmas and New Year's greeting sent from Tel Aviv. While I gave a great deal of thought to the card's design, I did not really think about the text. Wishing friends a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year seemed natural to me and perhaps the following story will give you a window into how I approach the holiday season.

this year's card

I spent my early childhood in a small town near France's Mediterranean coast. It was a wine-making town surrounded by rolling green hills. In those years in the late sixties of the last century it was the furthest place one can think of from Tel Aviv. My stepfather was a French Jew of Bulgarian origin who served as a partisan in World War II and my mother was born in Israel as were the seven generations before her.

At the time, the name on our front door was Cohen (my stepfather's surname), and yet one of my fondest and most cherished memories is of Christmas morning. Local culture and tradition found its way into our home and in addition to a Hanukah menorah there was always a well-decorated Christmas tree.

my sister and I, Christmas morning

Throughout my childhood my religious identity changed and evolved. There was a time I insisted on going to school wearing a yarmulke (a suede one, but totally kosher). After that there was a period I didn't miss a night in my prayers to the Virgin Mary. A few years after, I discovered my biological father was a descendant of an ancient French aristocrat family. His family objected to his relationship with my mother, or as she was referred to by them – “the Jewess”.

Today I define myself as an Israeli (Tel Avivian would be more accurate perhaps) and as a Jew, but my identity pallet always contained a broad range of colors. It has the earth tones of the desert, European Rococo colors, Mediterranean turquoise and sometimes Christmas' red, green and gold.

Those of you who have visited my store in Tel Aviv may remember a set of three vases and a set of three sconces bearing the symbols of the three monotheistic religions. I made the three vases ten years ago, when John Paul II made his first, and historic, visit to Israel.

Since then, those objects have reflected my multicultural perspective and of how I 'greet' the world. During my studies in Rome I made some real close friends who are Catholics. Yohai and I live in a mostly Christian and Moslem area in Jaffa. We live an alternative lifestyle and hope to expand our family. I have friends all over the globe, people of many nationalities and religions. We have both a dog and three cats.

Thus, my wishes for all my friends and customers are that we all celebrate what we choose, how we choose and that the coming year be filled with creativity, success and peace. Happy 2010 everyone!

Happy New Year from Samy D.

2009-12-23T18:36:00.000+02:00

Nelly's Kitchen

2009-12-07T11:18:00.000+02:00

Nelly Kerpner from Nelly's Kitchen

Veteran readers of this blog may recall that I was born in France and love to cook and bake. When you put these two facts together one may make an assumption of how I cook. Up until recently (the last few years), each meal I prepared required quantities of butter and cream that would have made the court of Louis XIV proud. No two ways about it, when you use good ingredients and you do not mess around with the proper process, it turns out better!

Nelly, Yohai and I relaxing a day after my show opening in East Hampton, NY summer 2008

And yet, my entire way of cooking changed profoundly since I got to know Nelly's Kitchen (as proper disclosure, Nelly, from Nelly's Kitchen is my best friend. I get to eat her gourmet food a couple of times each week). When I met Nelly she had a successful PR Company. She was a strong figure with white blond hair and a deep look in the eyes. The first time I met her was at an event she produced and I, as a design student, worked as a waiter. Since then she left the PR business, (and I the waitering business), lived for more than two years in Vienna, colored her hair to brown, went back to blond and changed professions to focus on healthy gourmet cuisine.

Nelly's tortillas on my tableware

After a few years of involvement in health food, she spent a year at New York's Natural Gourmet Institute from where she returned with a full bag of organic surprises. Most times when Yohai and I come to see her after a long day at the studio, there’s a great meal on the table within minutes. Sometimes it is a whole meal wrapped in a tortilla and sometimes it may be shrimps in tomato sauce with lightly toasted bread with a bit of olive oil which absorbs all the flavors.
She has a successful catering service and she also gives cooking workshops at her charming house in Jaffa. So, the next time you are in Tel Aviv and want to eat delicious, homemade organic gourmet cooking, or if you want to have a wonderful experience of going to the Tel Aviv colorful market (Hacarmel market) and then learn how to use the local Mediterranean ingredients – drop her a line Nelly@Nelly-Kitchen.co.il

Nelly in TimeOut Tel-Aviv

These days, even when Nelly does not see me when I'm cooking, I cut back on the butter and cream (except of the days I'm baking Kugelhopf), I use a lot less sugar and white flour and using instead date and Agave syrups, and whole wheat flour. I use less oil and a lot of vegetables, grains, legumes and fish.
If I would to summarize what I love best in Nelly's cooking, it would certainly be the diversity, the esthetics, and especially the refined flavors and her easy going, attitude about cuisine and in general. So that you can experience her food for yourself, I am attaching one of her recipes. Enjoy.

Whole Grain Red Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms and Ginger in SAMY D. bowl

‏Whole Grain Red Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms and Ginger
‏4 portions

Ingredients

1 cup of whole grain red rice
2 cups water
1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
1 garlic clove
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
Salt, pepper to taste
3 Tbs. chopped parsley or 2 Tbs. chopped spring onions (only the green part)

Directions:

Soak the mushrooms for 10 minutes in boiling water, and chop.
Cook the rice with water and a pinch of salt until boiling.
Cover the pot and reduce the heat. The rice is ready when all the water has been absorbed.
Water fry the ginger, garlic and the mushrooms for 5 minutes, add the rice, salt and pepper.
When served, season with olive oil, parsley or spring onion.

Bon Appetite!

First prize of Alix De Rothschild Crafts Awards

2009-11-01T16:33:00.000+02:00

I am extremely happy and proud to share some pretty big news with you – on Sunday, October 11th I won the first prize of Alix De Rothschild Crafts Awards.

Mrs Ruth Corman, The winning vase and samy D.

This award has been given every year for the last 20 years by the Alix De Rothschild Foundation and the competition is directed by the lovely Mrs. Ruth Corman of the Corman Arts Gallery in London.
Each year the competition has a different theme and this year’s was contemporary Judaica. About 150 artists and designers applied to the competition and sent images of their works to a jury in London. The jury selected final twelve finalists and the final jurisdiction was held in Jerusalem.
People who know me and my work may see the thin irony in the fact that I, of all people, just won a prize for Judaica. With the exception of one Chanukah Menorah and a few candlesticks I did years ago, I do not “do” Judaica. I use materials connected to Jewish identity and personal identity in general but 'hardcore' Judaica is not really my thing.
Going to the final judging in Jerusalem was also quite an experience. For someone like me, who spends most of his time in a few square kilometers in Tel Aviv, a trip to Jerusalem is a true field trip. After a short walk around some of the capitol's most beautiful sites we arrived to the award ceremony.

Samy & Yohai wondering under the influence of Jerusalem

According to Mrs. Corman, the jury had difficult time in choosing the winning works because of the high standards of all the works submitted. Eventually they decided to give four artist the Third Place award, one artist the Second Place award and one artist the First Place award, yours truly, for my Genesis Vase. Needless to say I was surprised and even more proud given who my fellow competitors were. In this spirit I would like to acknowledge the other winning artists. They are:
Third Place: Sarry Srulowitz, Gilla Miller-Lapidot, Netaia Ben-Atar and Avi Biran
Second Place: Itamar Baglikter

The winning vase "Genesis"

My Three New Collections

2009-09-15T16:33:00.000+03:00

Ripple & Dune Collection 2010
Photographer: Miri Davidoviz

After a great deal of hard work, I am happy and proud to tell you that I have launched not one, not two but three new collections. The collections were designed so they will work great together and can be mixed and matched according to necessity and personal taste. For the first time I am using materials other than white clay for my tableware collections; materials that give the dishes different textures and an utterly new look.
Working on a new collection can take weeks, months and sometimes even years. Since my store and my studio are two parts of the same space, I have the privilege to test my designs in the eyes of my customers and listen to their reactions in real time. This way I test and try new designs and make the customers part of the process.

Ripple Collection
A collection comprised of a set of serving bowls and full place settings with an architectural nature. This serves to emphasize the movement and flow that I always search for in designing – plates in three dimensions and not two as we all used to. One side of the dishes (the one eaten on) is glazed and the other side has a gentle roughness, a more silky texture. The fold makes the serving more comfortable and elegant, ergonomically speaking.
As seen in the photos, once again – my affection to gold. The combination of black clay and gold excites me in a way I used to get from bright red, green or blue dishes.

Ripple Plates Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Ripple Bowl & Plates Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Set of Three Ripple Bowls Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Oasis Collection
Another collection, or rather the beginning of a collection, is Oasis. The material I use in this collection is very rough – desert soil rough. I am very pleased with the dramatic tension between the crackled parched exterior and the explosion of gold on the inside.
It is my first time using and combining two different materials in the same dish. I apply a layer of black clay on top a very rough surface – creating a serving plate which has a smooth center and undomesticated, wild edges.
When my materials supplier heard I threw this rough clay on the wheel he thought (and not for the first time) I was crazy. It is true that each time I use this material I need to give my finger tips a few days of relaxing and growing a new layer of skin, but I think it’s worth it and love the outcome.

Oasis Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Oasis Bowl Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Oasis Plate Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Dune Collection

The third collection is Dune. In this one I use the same cutting I used in my Rococo collection but the overall look is profoundly different. It is a first that one may find SAMY D.'s tableware in a rustic look and feel. Maybe it is the global recession, maybe maturity is all about breaking old paradigms, but some of the dishes in the Dune collection do not have any gold at all (almost).

Set of Dune Plates & Bowl on Oasis Under plate Collection 2010
Photographer Miri Davidovitz

Good Old Kugelhopf

2009-09-06T17:24:00.000+03:00

Photo: Miri Davidovitz

Certain smells always make me think of “home”. The ones that make me inhale and smile within are especially those of fresh linens and cooked foods and baked goods. I love to cook and bake and Yohai, in a complementary manner, likes to do the laundry so we are both in charge of the scents that float through our home.

Because I truly love to bake all different things, I do not have one favorite pastry; my favorites change from time to time. Usually, since I cook and bake in a very intuitive way, I tend to repeat the same recipe over and over, changing details and quantities until I reach perfection (for my taste of course) and then it is very rare I repeat it.

In the last few weeks I rediscovered the good old Kugelhopf. This cake, which is actually considered a rich bread, is a remote cousin of the Brioche and has many origins. The Hungarians usually add cocoa to it, you may find it in Austria, Germany, but I prefer to see it as a French pastry (the region of Alsace where you can find wonderful Kugelhopf is French but has strong German influences). Traditionally, the Kugelhopf baking dish (round, tall baking dish with a hole in the center) was a must item in any young women's dowry. Believe me, I am no young girl and yet the dish I am using came from my mother's kitchen, God bless her.

I love to have a slice of Kugelhopf with with some jam with my morning coffee or when I have friends for dinner, after the desert with the coffee. This past month, I seized the opportunity that it is fig season and concocted a fabulous fig jam (the recipe here below) It is very simple to make and looks great. To date, no one has refused a slice of cake or a spoon of jam despite the growing complaints about the excessive amount of food served.

Check it out! In one post you get a Kugelhopf recipe, fig jam recipe and a glimpse to SAMY D.'s newest collection coming out in a few days! More details to come...

photo: Miri Davidovitz

Kugelhopf

250ml milk
150gm French non-salter butter, cubed
2 Tbs. sugar
20 gms. fresh yeast
450 gm. white flour (preferably organic. Can be replaced with whole wheat)
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs, beaten
Zest of one orange or lemon (optional)
Seeds scraped from one fresh vanilla bean

To coat pan before baking and cake:

100 gm. French butter, softened
Sugar

Melt the butter and milk and cool until just warm.
In the bowl of a mixer with dough hook attached (preferably the Kenwood K-Mix in off white, force of habit) place all the ingredients expect the melted butter and milk mixture and mix on low speed to combine.
Slowly pour and mix on low speed the melter butter and milk mixture and continue to mix on low speed for 5 mins.
Remove from dough hook and cover bowl with a towel. Place in a warm spot and allow to rise for one hour or until dough has doubled in size. While dough rises, preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Spread 20gm of butter on the cake pan and put batter in pan. Cover cake pan with towel and allow to rise until the batter reaches the top edge of the cake pan.
Bake for 40-50 minutes (remove from oven when cake reaches a dark golden color, but not burnt, because if it burns it would be a waste right?)
Allow to cool 2 minutes in pan and then turn over onto cutting board and remove from pan.
Spread hot cake with a thick layer (80gm.) of butter with the help of a pastry brush (what can one do, worse case you do another half hour on the treadmill). Coat with a generous amount of sugar on all sides and then transfer to a serving dish (preferably one made by Samy D).

photo: Miri Davidovitz

Fig Jam

1 kilo ripe (not not soft) figs, halved
750 gms. sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 lemon
1 shot of vodka

Cook the figs and sugar in a saucepot over medium heat.
Halve the lemon and squeeze in its juice. Add the squeezed lemon halves to the pot (without the pits, event though they gave most of the pectin.
Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and add seeds to the pot.
Cook over medium heat until the sugar turns into a bubbling syrup. Then lower heat.
Five minutes before the end of the cooking process, add the vodka and allow to cook for five minutes more.
for cooking times there are a few methods, I personally use the “spoon” method – I dip a spoon in and according to how it drips back into pot I can tell if it's ready. Another more “empirical” way of checking is the plate method. You take a spoon of jam and drip it onto a cold plate. If it's too liquid and drips it's not ready. If it clots on the tilted plate, it is, and can be removed from the heat.
The jam should be stored in a pasteurized glass jar. Rinse the jar well with soap and water. Fill the jar to the top with boiling water and wait a few moments. Pour out the water and turn over onto a clean dry towel and allow to dry thoroughly. Fill the jar to the top with the hot jam, seal and turn over in order to create a vacuum.

Ripple Collection
photo: Miri Davidovitz

would love to read your thoughts and comments,
Bon Appetit!

Meeting some interesting people in Neve-Tzedek, Tel-Aviv

2009-08-26T19:20:00.000+03:00

One of my favorite things about my Tel Aviv neighborhood, Neve- Tzedek is that it you run into and meet some very interesting people. This is especially true during the summer and the Holidays seasons, when the streets of the neighborhood is packed with English, French, Italian and many more languages that is not Hebrew, speakers.

This summer I had the privilege of meeting Sam Bacharach, a McKelvey-Grant Professor of Labor Management at Cornell University’s ILR School. After he visited my studio a few times and after discussing Art and specifically Israeli Art, he asked me if he could write a post about my my studio and how I managed to find my own niche in the Art and Design scene.

We sat down and spoke, he wrote a few notes and then recorded himself and sent it online to his assistant in New York. After just a few hours the post was online. Globalization in its beautiful expression.

Please read this blog post and I will be glad to read your thoughts and comments.

a Niche Finds You: The Proactive Ceramicist

August 24, 2009 · Print This Article

Being proactive demands a capacity of finding your niche. The ability to understand what you want to create, develop, sell, or change. Often we sit around and hope that intense rational thought, calculation, strategic discussion, or even therapeutic analysis will help us somehow discover what it is that we always wanted to do–what we always needed to produce.

For a long time I’ve been walking past an interesting ceramic store in downtown Tel Aviv, in the Neve Tzedek area, called Samy D. I’d rarely entered the store, but this past spring I was having coffee in NYC and I saw a piece of Samy D.’s work in a neighboring shop. I resolved to visit Samy D.’s shop over this summer and see exactly what I was passing by.

Looking at Samy D.’s work it was clear that he had established himself a particular niche. Gold-plated bowls, deep greens, tonalities of reds and blues, and designs recalling Erté. This was in sharp contrast to the brown concrete tones one usually sees in contemporary Israel.

When next in Tel Aviv I sat down with Samy D. to discuss with him his work and, more importantly, from our point of view, his discovery of his niche. Now, being an academic, working with organizations, and believing in strategic analysis, I figured there was a complex answer. Samy D., when I asked him about how he found his niche, gave me one of those answers that academics don’t really want to hear. He replied, “By accident.”

His story, boiled down, is simple: “I studied design, worked in multimedia, then one day I designed some cups, somebody liked them, so I sold them. So, I made a few more and I sold those too. I made a few dishes and I sold those too. Next thing I know I develop a shop. Not only that, but I thought it would be a good idea to have a studio in the back so I could interface directly with my shop. It seems my niche discovered me, rather then me finding my niche.”

Samy D. had the capacity to recognize his niche and follow it though. He possessed a certain degree of proactive focus that demands follow through. It required that he develop his niche, not go beyond it.

His is a flamboyant statement in a market where understatements are valued, where the natural is the mode, where panache is always ignored, the subtle always accepted. What Samy D. recognized was people’s desire for color and vibrancy. The potential of the decorative in a culture where the decorative is dismissed as too European. As he says, “My work is different.”

From our perspective what’s unique here is Samy D.’s capacity of not being scared by the fact that his work is different. Now, his niche has grown and he’s moving from simply designing his products to helping restructure and redefine elements of the ceramic market and, lately, impacting the art market.

I write this piece knowing, as Samy D. does, that colorful ceramics aren’t a huge niche. But, ask yourself, how much of a niche do you actually need to be successful?

What’s to be learned here? Proactive leaders are those that have the capacity of recognizing their niche when it comes by. They don’t sit around waiting for Godot. The bus comes, it’s the right niche, they get on, they worry about it later, they follow through.

AIDA

2009-08-02T06:23:00.000+03:00

AIDA - Association of Israel's Decorative Arts
Sofa Expo Chicago IL, U.S.A. 2007

As I wrote before, in the last couple of years I participated in several exhibitions and art fairs in the United States. Some of them became possible thanks to a group of warm hearted Americans who founded AIDA (Association of Israel's Decorative Arts) in 2003.
The organization was founded by Doug and Dale Anderson and Charles and the late Andy Bronfman after they spent evening together and discussed Israeli decorative arts. They are great believers in Israel's creative forces and put the fostering of the development of contemporary decorative artists from Israel as their organization's mission.

Doug and Dale Anderson

The first time I came across AIDA was when Aviva Ben-Sira AIDA's project director in Israel (which I already knew from the Eretz Israel Museum's gift shop), Jane Adlin, one of the Metropolitan Museum senior curators, and Davira Taragin, the curator of the Racine Art Museum, came to see me in my studio. I did not know the two lovely ladies before, and during the visit, I was charmed by their kind and fun personalities and complimented by their enthusiastic reactions to my designs. Only after they left, and after I had Googled their names I realized what a great honor and achievement I just had. At the time they were looking for Israeli artists for the Philadelphia Museum of Arts' Craft Show. The Craft Show host guest artists from another country each year and in 2008, for Israel's 60th Anniversary, Israel was chosen to participate in this prestigious show. It took a few years of hard work by the AIDA people to make it happen.

Philadelphia Museum of Arts' Craft Show 2008

Philadelphia Museum of Arts' Craft Show
Sharon Shaked, Yohai Barak & I (Samy D.)

Members of AIDA family
Philadelphia Museum of Art's Craft Show, 2008

The initial visit of the AIDA advisors in my studio was the first of several visits. It turned out that they wanted my designs not only for the craft show but also for SOFA Chicago!
The only goal of the organization's visionary founders is the success of its artists. It is very rare in the harsh global art scene to come across people who are not driven by their own desire to get ahead or achieve capital gain. The warmth I feel each time I meet with the AIDA founders and advisers is that of meeting family. As Tolstoy wrote, all happy families resemble one another, and like any other family, from time to time there are occasional screeches and tensions but the overall experience I had with AIDA was (and still is) educating personal experience. The learning process works for both sides. The organization get to know the artist’s actual needs (what kind of shows work for what artist and what are the logistic preparations to be done for the different kinds of shows) and the artists participating in the international exhibitions get the international exposure and experience.

Sofa Expo, Chicago IL 2007
Samy D.s' Gorgonian Collection

Sofa Expo, Chicago 2007
Yohai Barak & Aviva Ben-Sira

Members of AIDA family
Sofa Expo, Chicago 2007

I hope that with the growth of AIDA activities in Israel, the Israeli side of the organization will continue to grow, improving AIDA's visibility and its public exposure so more Israeli artist can be part of it and more Israeli business people can take part in its blessed mission. For me, professionally, the acquaintance with AIDA was an important stepping stone. Beyond the commercial value, participation in shows of this international caliber has helped me to shape my artistic point of view and demonstrate the high standard of global art and design.

Philadelphia Museum of Arts' Craft Show
Yohai Barak My Love

True Colors 2009 – 100 Identities

2009-07-15T17:56:00.001+03:00

"LIvre Blanc" 2009

Imagination 2009 Tel Aviv

This Thursday (16.7.2009), I will attend the opening of the exhibition “True Colors 2009 – 100 Identities” at Shorashim Art Gallery in Tel Aviv (July 16th, 2 Habima Sq. Tel Aviv). It is a group exhibition and fundraising event for the National Association of GLBT in Israel. 35 artists donated their works to the exhibition, some of them are from the gay community and some are not (without any discrimination on a gender and sexual orientation basis) among them are Miriam Cabessa, Meir Pichchadze, Tzibi Geva, Ilana Gur, Daniel Morgenstern and many more from Israel's art scene leading artists.

I decided to create a work especially for this cause by the name 'Querelle'. This work is one of a series of works inspired by this year’s Imagination Exhibition where I exhibited (and donated) the work 'Livre Blanc'. This new series is a direct evolution of the HETOME body of works that will be exhibited at the Eden Art Gallery in New York (I promise to write about it soon). The series will also be part of a larger, extremely challenging exhibition I am currently working on. It will be at one of Tel Aviv's most intriguing new venues and will act upon the all of the observer's senses (again, I promise to write about it when the time comes).

Querelle
“True Colors 2009 – 100 Identities" Tel Aviv

The first time I came across the novel Querelle de Brest by Jean Genet (published in 1947) and the movie of the same name, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1982), I was in my early 20's, the time period during which my adult identity was shaped. The encounter with the intense text influenced my erotic imagery and my perception of male sexuality in those significant years.
I chose to use Jean Cocteau's drawings from the novel and engraved the text along the lines of the drawings upon ceramic slabs that resemble antiquity's Rosetta Stone and by that reverberated them in a new manner.

Roseta StoneAnonymous attribute to Jean Genet (1948)
Private collection

The introspection and re-writing of my personal history in a queer perspective, both literally and metaphorically, is echoed in the complicated topography and challenges the observer's ability to read the story fluently. This results in an incoherence that frequently rises in one's own attempts to trace its own narrative of becoming.
If you happen to be in Tel Aviv, please come see “True Colors 2009”. I hope to see you there!

Guest Artist No. 1 - Miri Davidovitz

2009-07-08T16:06:00.000+03:00

Me on Set
Photo by Miri Davidovitz

Once in a while I plan to write about some other things other than ceramics, gold-plated tableware and myself. As odd as it may sound, I do have some other interests. Today's post is about Miri Davidovitz, a good friend and a great Israeli photographer.
I first met Miri Davidovitz in the early 1990's. At that time Miri was already one of Israel's most interesting young photographers. When she returned to Israel after a few years in London, she brought with her a cutting edge aesthetic perception. I was in my very early 20's when I saw her work for the first time; it was in Monitin magazine (published between the years 1978-93 and considered to be a milestone in Israeli journalism), where she first showed her unique interpretation of contemporary fashion photography. Her fashion sense combines super polished point of view with both visual and metaphoric roughness at the same time. She succeeds in capturing and even creating well-rounded characters by using one, very precise, imagery.

I think Miri plays a significant role in Israeli visual feminism. In her career of over 20 years she keeps providing visual images of strong, self confident and fashionable women. Even in her most sensual shots, the model is not being objectified in any way; in this case the subject of the image usually is the portrayed woman's sexuality and not the one of the viewer.
Along the years we collaborated professionally a few times. The first time she took my picture was for a graphic article produced by Bikini and published in the 42° Magazine on 2002. Since then Miri took my professional portrait, my collection of conceptual porcelain jewelry (one of the next posts...) and I participated as a model in one of her campaigns.

Having Miri taking pictures both from the model's and the client's point of view is a very reassuring experience. Her sets (both huge productions and 'one on one' sets) are directed in a very assertive, professional yet pleasant manner. She is very attentive to the client's needs and always puts the product as the picture's subject and not the picture as its own subject. Nevertheless, it is very clear to anyone on set who is in charge, and of course as all good artists and professionals she won't compromise her point of view in order to please a client or publisher.

Me By Miri 2007

Her talent and intelligent self management made her a pioneer in feminine photography in Israel and one of the country's most established commercial photographers. I look forward to our next mutual job – a tasteful demonstration of SAMY D. LifeStyle.

miridavidovitz.com

miridavidovitz.blogspot.com

Snake Cups 1997-2009

2009-07-01T11:15:00.001+03:00

Me Surrounded By Snake Cups 1998

Photo by Dafna Kaplan

As I wrote in one of the previous posts, I started my career as a ceramic designer only after I got my first commission (promise to tell the whole story in one of the next posts). This commission was for 24 of what will be nicknamed “Snake” cups.
The main inspiration for those cups was the classic French bol – a ridiculously large, round, wide opened cup, perfect for café au lait. As far as I know, people start using this cup in France in the early 19th century. The wide opening was designed so it would be perfect for dipping the morning's Tartine (a quarter of a baguette with butter and, or without, jam). It may be just bread and butter but on the terrace of a parisian café terrace it has an extra fine flavor. The 'bol' (both the cup itself and the Tartine dipping habit) became an all-French accessory and ritual ,to the point where a few expressions in French were created referring the 'bol' such as avoir du bol (someone being lucky), Manquer de bol (someone not) and of course raz le bol (when enough is enough).

Snake Cups first version 1997

I remember using the 'bol' in my early childhood in southern France, when each member of the family had his own 'bol'.
What interested me even more than the sentimental memories of it, was to find the exact proportions of the cup and its handle. I wanted mine to have an unusual proportion, one that will increase the tension between the round, medium sized cup to the twirled handle. At first I thought I'll make the handle open, in order to increase the tension even more. Almost immediately, even before the first commission was delivered, I realized that I almost fell for one of the oldest designer snares. I fell in love with an idea that both damaged the usability of the product and made it very difficult for production. The new handle I designed was much more comfortable to hold and the deterioration rate decreased dramatically.

Snake Cup 2000
Photo by Studio Shoker-Sidor

Snake Cup 2007
Photo by Natan Dvir

Please do not get me wrong, I am the last one who will give up on good design because it may require a lot of work or because the process itself may take longer. I have a long list of examples of designs and art works that Sisyphus himself would recoil from but ergonomics are importnat.

Along the years I changed the proportions and dimensions of the cup a few times. I think today, its size increases the diversities of its function. Aside from being perfect for coffee drinking and Tartine dipping, it is in a good size for serving any kind of salads, desserts and of course – for baking! I promise that in one of the next posts I'll write about my strawberry chocolate soufflé, maybe in a few months, when it's the season.

Watching the evolution of the snake cup in the past twelve years, (without resting on my laurels or resting at all for the sake of accuracy – haven't been on a true mind-clearing vacation since opening the business) from the first commission to the cover of The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show's brochure, makes one see what can be achieved by hard work and by having a bit of luck, or even better- avoir du bol!

Cover of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show's brochure

Its Too Darn Hot!!!

2009-06-16T15:22:00.000+03:00

The last few days were very hot in Tel Aviv. I had a friend once who used to say that Tel Aviv is the only place in the world that is always hotter than usual for this time of year. Each year, in the beginning of summer, the only topic for small talks is that it's too darn hot! When it's terrible hot we have “British” discussions about the weather. For a few weeks in the beginning of summer, all the headlines are not about wars, not about the falling stock exchange, not about settlements and not about corruption in the government– it is all about the great heat waves (which anyhow do not contribute to none of the above).
If it is hot and humid in Tel Aviv, you can imagine how hot it is in the studio when the kiln is working. Actually, you can't. It's very hot. Very very hot.
Two summers ago, I got one of my biggest commissions ever. Bank HaPoalim, Israel's largest bank wanted me to design and manufacture the bank's gifts to its premium clients for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, taking place on September). I took a few days to think about the best concept and gave them my best offer. The problem was that they gave me only three and a half months before the holiday, and this period of time could just do, leaving me almost no room for unexpected obstacles. It took them over three weeks to call me back and say that even though they absolutely love it, it is too expensive for their budget. What a disappointment, not only the commission, but the prestige of those gifts to be given to Israel's most wealthy families.
Almost a month later I got a phone call from the bank. They had changed their minds and wanted the gifts! On one hand – it was next to impossible in the given time period, on the other hand – I could not politely reject this kind of commission.

This is how I found myself making way over a thousand porcelain bowls from scratch at a frenzied pace. It came to a point one could not find any Limoges porcelain or ceramics applied gold through all of Israel, I had bought it all.
There was not a chance I could burn all those hundreds of bowls in my kiln so we both, Yohai and I, drove all across Israel, using kilns in four different locations. At the same time we rebranded the studio (new logo, new brochures and new packages); reorganized the studio and moved to a new house in Jaffa, all in the same, very limited time.

We started our mornings earlier than usual and finished our days way way after midnight after kneading, throwing, polishing, loading kilns, glazing, unloading kilns, driving, meeting the graphic designer and the packaging woman, coating with gold and driving back to the studio to throw some more porcelain, heart shaped bowls.

This notorious project began in mid-July and lasted to the first week of September when we delivered it all with a smile. The kiln was working nonstop throughout this time.

The temperature outside was crazy and inside was just plain inhuman. Ever since, when someone complains about the heat, I invite him or her to visit and experience what real heat fills like.

Gay Pride Tel Aviv 2009

2009-06-13T20:39:00.000+03:00

Tel Aviv as a city has a totally unique and sometimes oxymoronic combination of fast paced daily living and a very laid back social environment, all at the same time. One of the more fortunate outcomes of this high speed but casually dressed reality is the participants' will, and even need, to celebrate and party.
The fact that the line between the mainstream and extreme is very flexible and easily moved in Tel Aviv, made Friday's Gay Pride Parade a true diverse, liberal, happy, colorful and open demonstration of freedom and tolerance.

Gay Pride Tel Aviv 2009

Arnon

Shlomit Hamugzmet, Ofer & Joel

Yohai & I

Yohai

Sharon & Shalom (left behind)

One Of Five First Couple to be married in Public

Mayor Of Tel Aviv Mr.Ron Huldai, Gal Ochuvski, Ivry Lider

Parliament Member Nitzan Horvitz, Gal Ochovski, Ivry Lider

Adv. Irit Rosenblum

Advancing Family Rights In Israel

New Family is the first organization in Israel dedicated to advancing family rights and the rights of individuals within families. Led by experts in the field of law and civil rights, New Family is a human rights organization working to attain legal recognition of every family unit in Israel to ensure equal rights for every type of family.

http://www.newfamily.org.il/english.asp

Genesis

2009-06-06T21:22:00.000+03:00

Me Engraving the Story Of Creation

Exactly a year ago, on June 2008, I had a solo exhibition at Israel's most established design gallery in Tel Aviv. The title of this group of works was GENESIS. It was a series of objects, 14-karat gold coated, most of it engraved with the story of creation from the book of Genesis in Hebrew.

Periscope - Contemporary Design Gallery 2008

The first item, from which the exhibition emerged, is a vase that carries the story of creation in its Catholic version. The curving of the lines forms a shape of the crucifix at the center of the vase. A similar item followed bearing the Orthodox-Jewish version of the same text where the topography of the text creates the Star of David.

First Test 2005

Before using the Orthodox-Jewish version of the text, I tried to work with the marvels text from The Book of J by David Rosenberg. The subtle differences between the versions of the text inspired me to explore my own identity trough this text. Being the son of an Israeli-Jewish mother and a French-Christian father, gave me an external and very distinct point of view. For example, celebrating all the Jewish holidays and having a Christmas tree every year was very unorthodox in 70's Israel.

Genesis 2006

During the work on the exhibition, it was fascinating for me to explore not only the Genesis text but also in what way the topography of the text can be in constant dialogue with its context. In addition, I decided to make a more personal statement by giving the objects an organic nature. The inspiration to the forms was the sensual Calla-Lilly flower. Only when I saw all the works positioned on their shiny black pedestals, did I fully comprehend the not only sensual, but boldly erotic nature of the objects. I was in heaven, I brought the work to a certain point, and then magic occurred – the exhibition got a life of its own.

Eshet enoch 2008
15/26/28 cm

One month later, I had another GENESIS opening, at the Vered Art Gallery in East Hampton, NY. I promise I will write another post about setting an exhibition where my works are setted next to Picasso, Braque, De Kooning, and Warhol. One of the most exciting experiences I have ever had!

VeredArt Gallery - East Hampton, New York, 2008
Eshet Jubal 18X27X55 cm 7x10.6x21.6 inches
Eshet Cainan 21X35X50 cm 8.2x13.7x19.6 inches

As you may know, I opened my studio back in 1997. Since then when people asked me what I do, I said that I'm a ceramic designer, that I'm an industrial designer. It took me 4 years of studies in Israel, 2 years of studies in Italy, almost 12 years of hard work and one GENESIS show to be able to grasp myself as an artist.

Periscope - Contemporary Design Gallery 2008
Eve

Enoch Diameter
18 cm Hight 80 cm

Habitant 1

2009-06-06T19:46:00.000+03:00

The design process, or creation of an artwork is thought to be very individual and often solitary. I however, am not alone in the studio in more than one sense.
My studio has gone through a few phases since I opened it in 1997. As opposed to most other artists and designers, I opened my first studio after I got my first commission and not the other way around. After just a couple of years, the studio grew to the point I had a number of employees, each with his very distinct role in the process of making SAMY D. tableware. At a certain point I had a great many workers and sold my designs at Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's, Boca Raton and many more prestigious venues across America.
After a while though it came to a point I felt like a slave to my own business – one of the most frustrating feelings I have known. That, among other reasons made me reach a drastic decision to let all my employees go, rent a new, much smaller studio in the most beautiful and picturesque area in Tel Aviv – Neve-Tzedek, and focus on an original, high-end studio work. So here I am. But in actuality, it’s here we are.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not alone in the studio. In the last two years I share the space with Yohai,

Yohai The Love Of My Life

the love of my life, my other half - my life and business partner. He is in charge of sales and marketing and some of the items in this blog will be related to his “domain”. We live together, work together, travel together, getting our drives and passions from one another.
Well actually, Yohai and I are not the only inhabitants here, Betty the Magnificent (our 14 year old beautiful tricolor cat) has also lived here for the last few years, surrounded with clay, molds and glazes and yet hyper-elegant and with a great awareness of self.

Betty The Magnificent

Her absolutely favorite place (except of beneath the kiln when it's on its maximum heat) is just in the center of my desk, especially during winter – the warmth of my desk lamp makes her unmovable. Many people in Tel Aviv know her, after we close the studio and go home she sits by the store's window and monitors the evening strollers.
The last but definitely not least of the studio's habitant is Osho – a 14 year old heart-rending dog who walks with us every day from our home in Jaffa to the studio In Neve-Tzedek, all along the Tel Aviv - Jaffa beach.

Osho

At home we have two more cats, but that's for another post...

Keep in touch,

Samy D.

Photo by Gene Dubovoy

Welcome

2009-05-27T19:33:00.000+03:00

SofaExpo, Chicago, November 2007

I was born in France, 1968, living in Tel Aviv since 1974 and creating since 1997. My works are well published in dominant design and fashion journals and are held at the homes and galleries of important art collectors around the world. Samy D.'s store in Shabazi st., Neve-Zedek, lead a significant change in the Israeli world of ceramic functional art: it is for the first time that a dominant studio continuously presents the works of an artist, bearing his individual signature and its dynamics along the years. This signature is characterized by innovative and humoresque lines interwoven with ever- classic fineness.
In addition to the celebrated studio in the Neveh-Tsedek, I am active in collaboration with distinguished companies and private clients, for personal and custom designs and productions. Among the largest of these were Bank Hapoalim, Microsoft- Netherlands and EL-AL Israeli Airlines First Class. All my works are hand-made and tended by myelf, always composed of highest- quality materials such as stoneware, 14K gold and porcelain- Limoges.
The originality of my work, as well as an impressive mastery of the material and technology, denoted Samy D.'s immediate and extensive recognition. Recent collections of mine were hosted by leading art galleries in Israel and abroad, including the Haifa Museum of Art, Eretz-Israel Museum (Tel-Aviv), the SOFA exhibition in Chicago, IL and the Craft show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (November 2008).

The 5th biennale for Israeli Ceramic Art, Tel-Aviv 2009