Common Ground

For a country that produces so many talented designers, it’s notable that Israel—unlike, say, Italy, Denmark, and France—isn’t associated with a particular style or aesthetic. One thing that is common among Israeli designers, however, is their use of technological innovations to unexpected, and often striking, effect. For his Wavy chair, Ron Arad draped thermoformed plastic over a minimal frame to form a lightweight seat. Similarly, relative newcomer Talila Abraham shaped stainless steel into bowls that simulate the delicacy of antique lace; and Eyal Gever employed algorithms and 3-D software to create a decorative sculpture of a human skull. Other designers draw inspiration from the technological challenges posed by the country’s desert environment: Joseph Cory and Eyal Malka’s winning WatAir concept, for instance, proposes a way to convert dew into drinkable water. Here we’ve collected an assortment of objects that illustrates the variety of inventive Israeli approaches to design.