Israeli Design Part 2: Industrial Design

So much design coming out of such a tiny country! Inspired by my recent trip, Part 2 of this 3-part series on Israeli design focuses on industrial design.

 

Dolica the Sheep by Monkey Business

It was a few years ago (when I first began obsessing over design) that I picked up Dolica the Sheep. She was a total impulse buy - a blue, plastic ewe to hold my cotton balls.

The idea of an Israeli industrial design industry had never crossed my mind, and I figured Dolica's designer, Monkey Business, was based in Stockholm or Berlin, maybe even Tokyo. But when I set out to find what else Monkey Business had designed, I discovered a family-run operation out of Tel Aviv. Huh.

I'm no longer surprised by Monkey Business' roots. Since buying Dolica, I've come across numerous Israeli-designed items on this crazy thing they call the interwebs. And, of course, I've learned about Israeli-born design darling Ron Arad, who is perhaps best known for his popular Bookworm Bookshelf.

 

Arad's Bookworm Bookshelf [via Unica Home]

 RAWtation furniture by Adi Zaffran Weisler [via Dezeen]

Tene fruit bowl by Safi Hefetz [via Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum]

Espresso Solo by Shmuel Linsky [via Yanko Design] & espresso machine by Yaniv Berg [via Dezeen]

While the breadth of Israel's design industry may still be somewhat of a secret, the opening of the Design Museum Holon earlier this year will hopefully shine a little light. The building was designed by Arad, and the museum's mission is to "explore the impact of design and the relationship of design to urban spaces and every day life." Meanwhile, Jerusalem's prestigious Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design keeps pumping out talented new graduates.

And now I'm off to remove my nail polish with a bottle of Cutex, some cotton balls and Dolica by my side.