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Osnat lives in Jerusalem and crochets bags and rugs and other things out of salvaged rags.  She also sells balls of rag yarn for others to use.

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Gilgulim

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Israeli Artist's Co-op Closes Down: Lessons Learned

Vitrina Co-op

Hagar, of Gilgulim, excitedly posted about the new co-op she was working with in March of 2010.  See the other post here.  Unfortunately, the co-op did not last beyond a year of operation.  Hagar shares some of her insights on why it failed.  Undaunted, she plans on forming another group.  Sometimes it takes a painful experience to understand the potential pitfalls of a project.  Once those addressed, success is much more likely!  Here is what she says:

Why did our artists' co-op die so young?

Eight good artists and craftsmen, highly motivated and hardworking, with a jewel of a shop, an elaborate contract and fairly good understanding between them were the force behind Vitrina Co-op.  Still, our artists' co-op closed on March 1st, just a year after the grand opening.

We may put the blame on world's economy or on Israel's summer social revolt, but actually, we have to look for the answers inside our group itself.  A few of the reasons for failure include:

• Lack of patience and eagerness for quick success.
• An uneven share of sales as opposed to equal expense sharing.
• An absence of understanding that our power comes from being a group and that the shop should be run as one business. 
• The lack of acceptance that running a street shop is very different from selling from one's studio.
• That joining an artists' co-op means an artist has matured from a hobby phase to an active marketing and selling stage. 

Vitrina co-op was a highly interesting and enriching experience for me and I still believe that an artists' co-op is a very good solution for arts and crafts marketing.  I am already looking into forming a new artists' co-op!

Inside Vitrina Co-op

Read more about how to establish a co-op to free artists from their loneliness:  Post on Hagar's blog.

You can keep up with Hagar and her next endeavors on her blog.  Hagar makes beautiful jewelry out of vintage ties and other odds and ends she finds at thrift markets:

Shop Gilgulim on Etsy!

How about you?  Have you ever participated in any type of a co-op? If so, are there any valuable lessons you would like to share with us?  We would love to hear them!

Let's get together and feel all right



Vitrina- A cooperative artist's shop



Sometimes dreams come true. Than they are no dreams anymore and one has to work hard to make them live. The long way to get together and feel all right!

In October, I wrote a post about cooperation and my wish to create a cooperative of artists where I live.

On March 1^st I am going to join VITRINA, a cooperative shop that will include eight artists; two ceramic artists, one fashion designer, two jewelers (including me), one soft recycled material artist and one who does great items for children. Another participant will curate and purchase items of artists outside the group.

Sharing expenses and working hours

This shop has been working for the last two years but is going to go through a dramatic change when doubling the number of participants at the beginning of March.

The basic idea of this cooperative is to share expenses such as  rent, advertisement, accounting, packaging as well as working hours at the shop. No incomes are shared.

The group gets together once a week in order to get to an approved agreement we are going to sign, share the shop's space between the artists, redecorate the shop and create display facilities for the changing needs and to get to know each other.

We are all very excited about this experience and believe our dream has come true.

Communicating in order to make a dream come true

Wish us luck!



Christmas longing from Israel to Mandawa

 A painted door at Desert Resort Mandawa

Women painting wall decorations 

in Desert Resort Mandawa

By Hagar Arnon Elbaz of Gilgulim

Here in Israel, we do not celebrate Christmas nor is it our vacation period. But growing up in Jerusalem (a ten minute drive from Bethlehem) made Christmas difficult to ignore. My German grandmother who immigrated to Israel on 1939 had school friends in Germany who used to send her Christmas cards and presents during this period of the year. The shiny cards scattered with gold and glittering with "diamonds" were given to me. I treasured these cards and was sure these were the most beautiful gifts in the entire world. Christmas was like a far away dream. 

Later on, my mother who was a Hebrew teacher was invited on Christmas Eve to the Finnish mission where two of her students served. Oh, this was an unforgettable evening. One should remember that Israel during the sixties of the last century was sort of a grayish place due to its poverty. Those fabulous green, red and gold colors at the mission were so bright and the choir sang as if coming straight from heaven.  We children could hardly breathe from amazement. When I grew up I came to know every church in the old Jerusalem and went to listen to the midnight mass.

 View of Mandawa palaces

For the last ten years I have gone to visit the neighboring Franciscan women's monastery situated on the hill opposite my house. The Mass is sung in Hebrew and Arabic as well as in all the languages spoken by the nuns who come from all over the world.

 Street Routine on Mandawa

But, last year I was in India.  It breaks my heart with longing to think about it, I miss India so much! On Christmas Eve we came back to Delhi from Mandawa.  I want to go back there so much and I will surely will!

 

Sewing class

This year we are going down to Eilat by the Red Sea. It has nothing to do with Christmas.  I am sure we will meet thousands of tourists who come to Eilat searching for sun in the middle of winter. I feel peculiar not being on the Franciscan monastery for one more Christmas Eve. I promise to send postcards from Eilat.

Mandawa

Desert resort

Eilat

"Baby it's Hot Outside!" An Etsy Holiday in Warm Climates

"Our House" by DEsignedByDianeEvans

By Hagar Arnon Elbaz of GILGULIM

Oh yes! Tomorrow it is going to be 84F/29C. Don't misunderstand me; officially, it is winter here now as we are part of the northern part of the globe. So when I came back today from sailing in the Mediterranean that was as calm as a mirror and read Etsy's mail of HOLIDAY SPECTRUM, I got really frustrated.

The spectrum consists of snow white, peppermint, ice blue, silver and gold and wintergreen. What are you talking about? Snow? Ice? Winter?  Just remind me what that means!

I try to imagine the fire burning in the fireplace, trees naked from all leaves, scarves, frizzing air in your nostrils. Thank God that I have passed a winter in Paris so I can get the picture…

After three months of seeing only witches and orange color around Etsy for a holiday celebrated only in America, now everything turns white, ice blue and wintergreen (oh, I forgot the red…). And I do ask myself if all Americans turn into little red riding hoods during this season.

I am just joking!

But then I look at my shop and I hardly find anything that corresponds with the colors mentioned. Does it mean people will just ignore my shop during the holiday season? Should I rush into my studio and start looking for the right materials to change the collection? But I have been working so hard! Poor me…

Well dear, this is all about being a minority. Living in a country (Israel) that has no winter or Christmas holiday, I have got nothing else to do but to keep sailing under this beautiful sun on the perfect blue of the Mediterranean …

And don't tell me you have no such fears as mine even if you are not part of the minority!
A good advice given by Rachel is that those who do not follow the masses might stick out and actually get more attention for it. Think about it!

Good luck to you my TAFA friends!

The beautiful patchwork is by DEsignedBYDianeEvans who has an Etsy shop and who is also a TAFA member.

Mediterranean Delight 

A room of my own, rituals and guardian angels

"A room of my own", Gilgulim's studio.

Before I unfold the secrets of my little home studio and invite you for a visit, I want to discuss another matter. I wish to share with you the need for ceremonies before we actually start working. I am quite sure that each one of us has his/her rituals that prepare us for the actual creative work. Take me for example: I cannot start working if the house is not more or less tidy and clean (do not mistake me for a cleanliness maniac, I am not!). Too much upside down makes me nervous and does not give me the peace of mind that I need. 

The same is true for my studio. If you look at my studio, you might not find it VERY tidy but it is MY order. I have to have all the materials and utensils within arms' reach and the white sheet of cloth I work on, needs to be clean from beads and left over fibers stuck on from the day before. And, I need quiet. The best time for me is when nobody is home or everybody is asleep.

Fabric straps ready do be used.

I have a tiny little studio into which I piled hundreds of neckties, a little white 1950's cupboard we found in the street and made into a lovely piece of furniture.  It is filled with textiles in all colors and shades, buttons, strings, beads and more. Opposite my desk, I have shelves containing little jars with beads divided by color, my jewelry utensils, materials that suit the season or my inspiration of the moment and three boxes of glass beads. On the big desk there are beads ready, waiting for their turn to be matched with other beads and the straps of materials I have already cut, and the actual product I am working on.

My IN THE SQUARE, STREET FASHION, FEATHER LYRICS, MATISSE and READY MADE collections of jewelry are stored in different drawers.  Sure, my laptop has a very important position on my right.  Do not forget the ironing board, ready to be used at all times.

Most important of all are my muses, my guardian angels: a little Indian marble Buddha head (mistaken for a grenade when I crossed the border from Jordan to Israel) and MAGALI OHIKA PEREZ's beautiful collage…. That was offered to me by her and is watching me while I am working (Magali's ETSY shop and her blog are worth your while visiting) .

The truth is that this conglomerate of materials and furniture does not leave much space to move around, but I feel great in this little room of my own.

What are you talking about?  Order in this tiny over stuffed little studio, Hagar?

Do not forget!  It is MY order that I am speaking about!

Do you have rituals too? Share them with us!

Fiber flakes I use for my Feather Lyrics earring collection.

I am not alone- Is cooperation the solution for us?

Chicken Coop's Path

 

By Hagar Arnon Elbaz

Reading our fellow TAFA Team posts gives me a lot of encouragement to keep dreaming and going in the path of what I really want to do. For quite a long time we have wanted to create a cooperative of artists. I live in a little town surrounded by a very beautiful rural area full of little  wineries, tiny cheese and food producer's workshops and lots of artists. This area was chosen to serve as a test case in an international project for recycling and cooperative work.  Lucky me! 

I am a great believer of sharing and cooperation in life in general. For a few years I have been following a few women's cooperatives. I got convinced that cooperation is a major way for us artists to survive.

Gallery 12 in the Kibbutz kfar Giladi

One of these cooperatives is situated on the north of Israel in the Kibbutz kfar Giladi, right on the Lebanese border.  It is on a street accessed only by pedestrians which has of a number of  former chicken coops that were turned into artist galleries and coffee shops.  The last Lebanon war (summer 2006) brought this outstanding project to an end. The tenants of "The chicken coop path" were asked to add safety rooms to the galleries and they had no funds to do so.  Everybody left except for a cooperative of 12 women that is called Gallery 12.  Each woman in the co-op is responsible for the shop one day a week and during the rest of the time may work in her studio or on a day job. Other rolls such as marketing, bookkeeping etc are also shared and are the expenses.

Gallery 12

Tomorrow I start taking part in a course for cooperation that will teach me how it really works. Interesting information that I will surely share with you.

Note:  The pictures of Gallery 12 and the "Chicken Coops Path" were taken on a Friday afternoon and unfortunately the gallery was closed. 

Hagar's Member Profile on TAFA

"Hard Rain is Going to Fall Tonight" Treasury by Hagar

Hard Rain is Going to Fall Tonight

A beautiful new treasury by our Team member, Hagar.  Go click on it and leave a comment!

Hagar's Member Profile

Hagar's Etsy Shop

"Quitting My Day Job to Sell on Etsy" by Hagar Arnon Elbaz

Beadwork evolved into making beads out of neckties

When I decided to go study textile design my father claimed right away that it was not a profession. In a way he was right, but I never regretted for a second choosing this path.



A found door was tirned into a miror

 I have worked to earn a living in all kinds of jobs. Some of them had nothing to do with textiles or design but made me gain other important qualifications. For many years I was a handbags buyer for Israeli companies and the design part of my soul was satisfied.  As a buyer, I had to look for materials, follow the world of design, find ways to discover what the next fashionable line was going to be, amend items in order to suit the Israeli taste and go to international exhibitions. 

Through it all, I never stopped designing different things; I made the children's clothing (when they were young enough to wear what I told them to), designed furniture for our home and redecorated furniture and items we found in the streets and in people's storage rooms.

Giving tired furniture a new look.

 

Three and a half years ago I started making experiments in designing with glass beads and wanted to find a way to create my own beads.  As a great fan of second hand and reused items, I decided to join my brother-in-law on his trip to Brussels in the search of such merchandise.

The market on Place du Jeu de Balle was a paradise and great inspiration for me. We went there every morning for two weeks and I felt like Alice in Wonderland. At one point, I found a huge bundle of neckties and right away I knew that this was what I was looking for. I had no idea of how I would use them, but ten kilos of neckties were packed and traveled home with me. The journey started there.

Place du Jeu de Balle-Brussels

After washing and taking the neckties apart, I started looking for the system that will make a bead out of these wonderful materials. It took me a year and a half to come up with something I was happy with. For the first time in years I just let myself do something for the pleasure of doing it. What a fantastic experience!  I rejected any remarks from the people around me trying to push me into selling the items accumulating in my drawers. I felt I wanted to remind myself of the pleasure of doing something freely only for the sake of doing it. Two years later I actually put my first items for sale on ETSY but still went on working a day job.

It is only now that I decided to make a full time job out this hobby of mine. Wish me luck!