Monday, April 13, 2015

MADAFIM - shelf hiring shop at the flea market in Tel Aviv-Yafo


After a long period of painting, being very busy to create a body of work for the exhibition I was fortunate to have had in February/March, I am back to sewing bags.


Did you ever hear of the concept of hiring a shelf in a shop? There are quite a few in Europe, in Germany and Switzerland, and they have gorgeous names. The German name for shelf is 'Fach', or 'Regal', so there are Fach-geschaefte (shops), Einfach, Vielfach, Mehrfach, Fachregal, etc. The artist or craft person can hire a shelf for a monthly sum. The owner of the shop will also take a certain deduction from the proceeds of the sale, and then the shelf can be stocked. 
In Hebrew a shelf is called 'Madaf', 'Madafim', shelves in plural. At the Tel Aviv-Yafo flea market a new trend is emerging. Many up-scale shops open there for business in the midst of the Alte-Sachen and typical flea market stalls. Shops for designer clothes, shoes, jewellery, gifts. So did a very large, pretty and elegant shelf-hiring shop, which is called, quite rightly 'Madafim'. I did not have an outlet for my bags for a long time, since the gallery where I sold for more then ten years closed, and other opportunities I tried did not work out so well. I signed up with 'Madafim' for a trial period of two months to see if this will be rewarding. I am creating a small line of bags with Bedouin embroidery. The pieces of embroidery were all bought over time at various Arab sellers at the market. 


The last days I figured out a new pattern, which I remembered seeing in a book once. Small wristlests, which close with a ring. The ring slides over the handle and closes the bag, very smart and practical. And they look really cute.


I have two totes almost finished and another messenger bag. I will show them soon.

2 comments:

Bob Bushell said...

Beauties. They are superb bags, thanks Yael.

Dawn of LaTouchables said...

That's a wonderful way to close these pretty wristlets, Yael.
Good luck with your shelf--I like that idea.